Chapter 4: What Was It Again?

“Hey—why did you come here?”
the girl asked.

“Huh? I don’t know, I just smelled something sweet. Can you smell it too?”
Sayuri asked back.
At that moment, it felt as if the sweetness gently grew deeper in the back of her nose.

“That’s a lovely necklace. Where did you get it?”
The girl pointed at it.
She was smiling, yet somehow her expression looked as if it were pasted in place.

“Nice, right? I got it from someone who looked like a monk.”
Sayuri pinched the necklace and showed the nekomata ornament.
Once again, the scent grew stronger—almost as if it were rising up from her neck.

“I see. Hey—what’s your name?”
the girl said.
The moment Sayuri looked at her face—she felt as if her mouth had been split open.
But in the next instant, she was smiling.

“My name? My name… huh? …what was it?”
As she tried to introduce herself, the words stopped.
It was as if her mind had been covered in a haze, and she couldn’t remember.

“Hey—your name. You don’t know it?”
the girl said.
The girl’s face wavered.
This time, her eyes seemed to appear doubled—or perhaps it was just a mistake.

“Huh? My… name…”
Her consciousness swayed. Her thoughts wouldn’t come together.
The sweet scent had now filled even the back of her throat.

“Hey—why did you come here?”
The same question, again.

“Why… I mean… why…?”
Each time she tried to answer, the words faded away like mist.

“Hey—”
She could no longer make out what the girl said.

Sayuri stood there, dazed, unable to move.
The girl smiled as she stared at her, as if appraising her.

“It’s a nice necklace, isn’t it? I’ll take it.”

The hand that slid out removed the necklace from Sayuri’s neck without any resistance.
In the next instant, it was swaying at the girl’s neck.

“…You look delicious, Sayuri-chan.”

That voice, too, never reached Sayuri.