Pygmalion Is Planting Seeds - Chapter 15

Snow started falling down as if it was erasing the remains of the fall.

Snowfall in this town was so rare to the point where rumors about it being a weather anomaly, roamed the streets.

Inside the basement of an old art nouveau building, hiding in the woods next to the suburbs, a man, seeming to be in his forties, and a beautiful little girl were sitting with a stainless table interposed between them.

On top of the table, laying down, was a nude boy. Although, describing him as ‘laying down’ may be a bit unbefitting for his current condition. His head was separated from his body and his lost limbs were also placed close to him. The cut section of his neck and limbs were dissolved and yellow pus was overflowing from his body filling the room with a wicked odor that could crook any nose.

The man and the little girl didn’t appear to mind that smell in the slightest and remained gazing at the boy’s body.

“Four and a half years, that’s indeed an impressive durability.”

The short little girl raised her voice which sounded like the ringing of a bell. Her cold and mature manner of speech was unsuitable for her young appearance and it somehow ruined her innocent characteristic.

The man was stiffly folding his arms while delivering a grim glance to the little girl.

“You knew about it, didn’t you? That Kuuya ran away from home and repeated the revival many times. Why didn’t you stop him?”

“I knew about it and I already gave him a warning. But he didn’t lend his ears to me. He was completely immersed inside the balm of the Shishikuibana.” The little girl coldly eluded the man’s rebuke.

“Giving up on persuading is the same as smothering him. Your words are nothing but an excuse. If you tried doing so more seriously, things wouldn’t have proceeded with this result.”

“And how about you? Despite being his caretaker, why didn’t you realize that he was raising a Shishikuibana?.”

“I knew that he was hiding something from me, but not even in my wildest dreams would I think about it being a Shishikuibana.” The man’s face became clouded from getting hit in a sensible spot. “So, there’s really no way for him to recover?”

“He’s not a lizard or a planarian. Once his parts become rotten, treating them back to normal is out of question. The sole way to restore him back is by planting another seed in his brain again. It could be said that he’s lucky for having this remaining possibility.”

“You mean I did well by securing his head before it completely rotted?” The angry man took out a cigarette, however, the little girls rebuked him with “No smoking!” before he held it in his mouth. The man unwillingly returned the cigarette to the case while observing the room. Then, he noticed that something was missing.

“Where did you put Iruse Misaki’s pot, by the way?”

“I disposed of it.”

“What a waste! Even though she was a cutie.”

“Her soul has crumbled apart. It is indeed a waste of flesh, but there’s no meaning in resuscitating her.”

“Is it the result of what you call as multiple copies?”

The little girl affirmed the man’s question.

“The revival of Shishikuibana is always followed by a loss or disruption of memories, a decline in morals, sociality and also, a partial dysfunction of the mind. Let’s call it as noise. No matter what you do during the resuscitation process, avoiding the noise is an impossible task. It’s similar to dubbing an analog tape. Do you know about a man called Ando?”

“You mean the man who was found decaying in his apartment recently?”

Ando’s death was a very strange case that gathered a large amount of attention.

Discovered inside a locked mansion, Ando’s body was found scattered around as if it was eaten by carnivorous animals and seemingly left to decay for a few months. Corpses of women with torn off limbs were also discovered along with it and the mass media started unfolding a battle of false reports every single day.

“All of those women were Shishikuibana. Ando was repeatedly whispering in their ears believing that he could brainwash them by altering their memories. What an idiot, there’s no actual way to do so. The Shishikuibana maintain their memories and emotions when reviving.”

“In short, he was murdered by his Shishikuibana?”

The little girl affirmed the man’s words again.

“The Shishikuibana is always aware of itself not being a human. Above knowing that fact, it could still deceive itself by cleverly acting as one and sometimes even by feigning silliness. All of that in order to approach the human world and obtain flesh, said differently, something like camouflage. Similar to how Iruse Misaki tried murdering Kuuya and how Ando didn’t perceive that their soul was composed only externally while internally, they were holding a rebellious spirit, resulting in him getting killed. If Ando was to repeatedly murder and revive them again, he would be able to increase the noise and torpor their senses. However, that would be no different from monopolizing a doll”

“The brain tissues turned into pure noise due to the frequent revival. In other words, multiple copies cause a deterioration in the brain’s functions, thus the death of the creature as an intelligent form.”

“But that’s quite strange.”

The little girl inclined her head.

“In Kuuya’s case, he wasn’t mimicking humanity but was really unaware of himself being a Shishikuibana. He didn’t look as he was pretending to me, and to top it off, he didn’t touch a single piece of flesh he was supplying for Iruse Misaki as well. Did you do something to him?”

“I didn’t pull any strings. He forgot everything on his own. Leaving aside the fact of Kuuya being a Shishikuibana, he even forgot about himself being murdered by his mother.”

“This is my first time witnessing a case of memory loss.”

“I don’t really need to inform you about this, but…”

The man dropped his sight toward the deceased boy.

“I started noticing the slight change in my sister-in-law’s mentality about the time when my brother suggested the divorce. After she broke up with him and took Kuuya along, her heart became entirely worn out. She was possessed by a firm conviction that Kuuya was the mastermind behind her situation, if he didn’t exist, she would’ve won back my brother’s heart. This guy here wasn’t to be blamed, he was only dragged into someone else’s fight.”

[Pr: Poor Kuuya]

“Which led to you embracing Kuuya’s ripped off head and knocking on this shop’s door.”

This time, it was the man’s turn to affirm her words.

“I was hearing rumors about you a long time ago, but every time I did, my reaction was a scornful laugh, thinking that such a miraculous sorcery doesn’t exist in this world. And in the end, I found myself grinding my forehead to the ground while begging you to bring Kuuya back to life. Just like a slave asking for his master’s forgiveness.”

“Still though, thanks to throwing away your dignity, Kuuya was able to return alive. Forgetting about himself being a Shishikuibana in addition.”

“Was he asleep when he was murdered, or maybe the shock of witnessing his mom murdering him caused a gap in his memories. I have no idea. The only thing that was obvious is him coming back to life with a pure human heart.”

“Maybe the lack of memories regarding his death restrained his Shishikuibana ego. Usually, his body would collapse and pass away after going a month without human flesh, surprisingly enough however, he was able to maintain his will and consciousness for a whole three months. I wonder if this lack of self-consciousness as a Shishikuibana exerted an influence on his health. If that was to be true, he would turn into a very interesting example”

“That’s not interesting, dammit!”

With an extremely displeased face, the man clicked his tongue.

“The first flesh you fed him was his mother’s. Not because she desired it, but because it was your self-righteous judgment, is that right?”

“My sister-in-law was entirely broken, though the only thing she still recalled is Kuuya’s face. Seeing the resuscitating Kuuya again made her fall into a panicky condition, it was quite possible for her to try killing him again. So yeah, considering these circumstances, I ended up making that bitter decision.”

“It must have been difficult. Not only killing his mother, but a common freelancer like you provisioning corpses is quite…”

“The killing part is not that hard. What requires a lot of effort, is performing that act without leaving the least trace. It would be troubling if somebody was to witness me during those times after all. The quantity of the flesh I take back home is not that large either, so it doesn’t really pay off.”

“And so, you feed him the flesh you acquire after a hard time. Keeping up this laborious task for four and a half years is pretty impressive.”

“Every day, I continuously disciplined him to eat meat. In times of my absence, I hire a prostitute to cook the meals for him after making her promise to not pry too much.”

“Your cooking skills must have increased?”

“Yeah. Though, I never made him a hamburger steak.”

“Why is that?”

Hamburger steak was the last meal my sister-in-law cooked for him.”

Silence dominated the room for a short while.

Eventually, their eyes slowly fell to the boy above the table.

Murdered by his mother, resuscitated with a strange method, carried on with his life a person, fell in love, and destroyed by his deep passion for the girl he loved. A pathetic, pitiful boy.

“Getting back to the main topic.”

The man directed his sharp glance towards the little girl once again.

“Why didn’t you inform Kuuya about the noise following the repeated resuscitation?”

“I just told you, trying to convince him otherwise of his blind belief of bringing back Iruse Misaki was no different from speaking to a wall. All of his beliefs were hanging by a sole expectation of reviving her. Even if he was to be convinced that his actions were completely futile and that it would only break her, then his own mind would’ve faced the same result. it would be too heavy for him to end his faint love story in such a way.”

“Still, staying silent is…”

“Iruse Misaki withered away and can’t be restored. That is the ‘truth.”

The boy was recreating a soulless doll until the end.

Chasing after the illusion of his beloved girl, he kept on walking through a thorny path without averting his eyes to the surroundings.

The only thing which was waiting for him on the other side of the path was a fleeting and brittle sand tower ready to crumble down the instant he steps inside of it. However, for the boy, he may have seen it as a shining arcadia instead.

“You’re making a face as if you’re unrelated to all this stuff. Speaking to you makes me feel like I’m having a conversation with a demon.”

“My mind and soul are both those of a human. Despite having a fake body.”

“You’re pretty cruel for a human, though.”

“I am an eternal girl who’s lived for hundreds of years. I left my human heart behind during this long period. The secret of retaining my youth is a shower of a maiden’s blood and black pudding. Hiding the fact of being a Shishikuibana while deceiving people with this flavored story is much safer you know.”

The man didn’t reply to the little girl’s sarcastic answer.

“In the first place, you knew about Kuuya being a Shishikuibana from the start, didn’t you?”

“I realized that on the way. At first, I thought he was just a middle schooler acting tough by walking in the night town. His family name, Mamesaki had caught my attention, but it didn’t ring a bell until he already fed Iruse Misaki the first piece of flesh.”

“You didn’t try to stop him because you were anticipating this result, no, you were the one who induced Kuuya to walk in this path.”

“Why would I do that?”

“To increase the Shishikuibana holding an ego. The reason you let him die was because you desired for his reset.”

The little girl drew back her smile to glare at the man with a cold expression.

“That’s a silly suspicion. I didn’t confirm my doubt of whether he was aware or not until just now to begin with. What is your basis for saying this?”

“You were never someone who gets satisfied by an explanation. Nor were you someone who generously informs others of the secret of making a Shishikuibana that easily. I don’t understand the motive behind you frankly telling him the fact you’re a Shishikuibana as well. This might not be my concern but, by observing your chain of actions I can’t help but see them belonging to one sentence.”

“So that’s how you arrived at this conclusion of me moving in order to recruit a new member to my club. Increasing my kind means decreasing my food. Obtaining human flesh is not something I could readily do. It’s me who will end up with a heavy loss.”

“If that wasn’t your reason, then I’d appreciate it if you told me why you gave him the first seed for free.”

“It’s the same as you when you didn’t notify Kuuya about himself, I don’t think that I am obliged to express my true purpose to you. But one thing is true, which is that I wanted to stop him.”

“This is hard to believe. Even if you were thinking so, is it because he was my nephew?”

“Seeing his hands which were consumed with love and pure feelings for Iruse Misaki, I didn’t want to witness them getting tainted by blood. It is indeed a sentimental reason if I say so myself.”

“Heh, so that’s it. Then why did you abandon him in the end? He didn’t lend an ear to your warning and lost his self-control. You couldn’t bring him back after he was swaying to his ruin, am I wrong? You threw him away just like a child who lost interest in their broken toy.”

“Is it strange to throw away a broken toy?”

The man’s head turned numb once again from anger due to the little girl’s wicked response.

He didn’t affirm her words nor did he clearly deny them.

This woman is desiring for a comrade.

Not because she needed someone to comfort her from her loneliness.

She desired for someone sharing the same accursed fate as her, someone corrupted by the addiction of eating human flesh.

…I mean, isn’t unfair, being the only one facing this destiny?

She would definitely answer something like that with a carefree face.

However, she didn’t want a cannibalistic flower depending on its survival instinct and devouring flesh.

All that she desired for, was a family member who’s in an environment already aware of himself not being a human, understands that fact very well, and possesses a never-disappearing wound.

Concealing that intent of hers, she makes use of her cajolery and conversation skills to persuade people before offering them the forbidden suggestion.

… Did you ever think about resuscitating your beloved person?

It didn’t matter for her whether those who were manipulated by her words end up in ruins.

In contrast to her desires, a person’s life was lighter than fluff.

And because of her selfishness, Kuuya was…

The man who was swelling with flames of anger barely managed to control his impulse to hit the little girl.

It wasn’t because he considered his situation about reviving the boy, but because he knew that even if he tears off her limbs while she’s still alive, the little girl would probably show him a grin, stating something like, “I think I should appreciate the exhibition of a lonely human swallowed up by his anger”.

“Aaah! Let’s call it quits here.”

The man was able to appease his irritation.

“You’re awfully selfish and your ideas considerably deviates from the common, However, The point where you’re honest with your desires is completely normal I guess.”

“How about you try writing a report about me, with the title as ‘The women who’s selling ruin’? Now that you praised me, I can even accept an interview request.”

“I didn’t praise you and I’m not planning on writing about you either. The food I’d buy with such a poor article income wouldn’t taste good anyway. And I don’t think there would be somebody who’s intrigued enough to read a report like that to begin with.”

“You shouldn’t be accused of what you’re writing. No matter what kind of big talk or idle gossip you write, depending on the reader, it could turn into a descriptive poetry of an uncommon minstrel. I think that’s something you are familiar with as a writer.”

The little girl placed down a worn out diary she was holding in her arm at the corner of the table.

“What’s that?”

“A lesson explaining the heavy compensation a person would have to pay if he rebelled against God’s will, a fable written down by a single man.”

“The heck does that mean?”

The little girl peered at the man’s face with her black eyes similar to the abyss.

“So what are you planning to do, Mr. Haruhito Mamesaki? Are you going to revive Kuuya once again?”

“There’s no need to answer such a question.”

“You’ve already acknowledged the danger of the deteriorating copies, right?”

“I will keep looking after this guy, even if his brain grows completely empty”

“Excuse me, that was a foolish question, wasn’t it?”

A brand new hole was drilled in the boy’s head.

“I don’t have any relatives to prove this but, an uncle being devoted to his nephew this much is quite unnatural. It seems close to a father doing his best to look after his son while resorting to every possible means.”

[Pr: The Story Was About Kuuya! *bang bang bang* That was the sound of my mind blowing]

“Isn’t that simply a silly suspicion?”

“What? Did I strike the mark?”

“Give me a break.”

The man standing behind the little girl who was skilfully handling the seed felt like he witnessed the figures of countless engravers standing in a row, waiting for her to bestow them a hammer and chisel.

Don’t they realize the little girl’s sly? Or maybe they’re already aware of the ruin arranged for them. Either way, they were all foolish engravers trifled, confused and charmed by the Shishikuibana’s sweet allure.

Those who were bewildered and deceived by the words of sorcery released from her fascinating lips; exactly like as a worker bee offering its collected pollen to the queen, they continued offering her their blood and flesh until they were reduced to ashes by the despair of the hell-fire born from their brought up nihility.

So I’m one of those idiots too, huh?!

Ridiculing his own actions, the man watched the little girl silently burying the seed inside the ashy brown deserted field.