Mob Yandere

[Part 1/4]

Running. Escaping. Continuously fleeing. In the long duration of her escape, the young girl could taste the dull metallic flavor in her mouth.

Lost in the labyrinth that seemed to stretch on forever, the half-youkai household member wandered aimlessly.

Her forehead was covered in bead-like sweat, her breaths were rough and filled with anxiety, and her heart was engulfed in bottomless restlessness and despair. Naturally, she half-expected the future that awaited her.

There was no hope for rescue. It was impossible. Even the official exorcists, who shared the bloodline of her clan, had little hope. And for someone in her position...

The Great Youkai War had brought great calamity to Fusō-kuni. Two-thirds of the villages in the country were abandoned. Cities, farmlands, and roads were littered with countless peasant corpses. Even the imperial army and warrior squads, which were supposed to be prioritized for reinforcement, were nearly destroyed by the end of the war.

The expert exorcists, who specialized in youkai warfare and stood at the forefront of the Great Youkai War, suffered particularly devastating losses. The families of many renowned clans had declined or become extinct, and Fusō-kuni had to create many new families to fill the void.

Over a hundred years had passed, and the wounds of the war still hadn't healed. The exorcists' families were still suffering from chronic shortages of personnel. That's why beings like her were born.

During the Great Youkai War, many warriors were artificially turned into half-youkai using forbidden techniques and were deployed in combat. The survivors of these warriors were still being operated under the control of the imperial court. The experience and precedent of using these warriors overlapped with the current issue of personnel shortage, leading many smaller exorcists' families to make the decision. That decision was to "employ half-youkai as household members."

Unable to afford the luxury of being choosy, and with the number of half-youkai rising explosively after the war, these "quasi" household members of the exorcists became a rational choice to control and utilize this unstable element in society. With a bit of training and equipment, their abilities were weaker than those of official exorcists, but they surpassed ordinary soldiers and servants, making them expendable pawns. The girl fully understood her position as such an expendable being.

Moreover, it was possible that the family she served had not even noticed her absence. Perhaps they thought she had run away in fear at the last moment. Given the trust they had in her position, it was a plausible story. After all, even the mission itself... made her anxiety deepened even further.

"Tsk!! Get out of my way!!"

She swung her naginata, cutting down the monsters that appeared before her. Kicking them away. Beating them to death. She pushed forward, overcoming everything in her path.

"In a place like this... I can't die here!!"

She didn't want to die. She had no intention of dying. She couldn't afford to die.

Because, wasn't that right? There were still so many things she wanted to do. So many unfinished tasks. Countless regrets. Most importantly, she hadn't conveyed anything to anyone yet...!!

"What do I want to convey...!?"

In the midst of her agitation, a momentary doubt flashed through her mind. A brief pause, but it was fatal.

'Ribbit!!'

"Agh, gaah...!!?"

Immediately after, a giant frog youkai, a Great Youkai, appeared before her. With a sound of air cutting, its extended tongue missed its mark.

Her naginata was knocked away, and the tongue pierced through her side. Tearing and crushing her bones, scraping her flesh, and splattering blood all over the floor.

"Kah... Hii, i-gii...!!?"

She coughed up blood, and a moment later, an impact hit her body. The shock from the tongue strike not only took away a part of her, but it also sent her body flying. Twirling in the air, she repeatedly crashed into the floor, where she spat out more red liquid.

"Kah... Hiyu, igii...!!?"

The young girl lying on the floor let out pitiful screams and trembling breaths. The absence of her screams wasn't due to her endurance, but rather because the pain was so intense that she couldn't even scream. Perhaps one of her lungs had collapsed.

Honestly, it was a miracle that she was still alive. If she weren't a half-youkai, a mere human, she would have died long ago. Or maybe the body enhancement she had applied in the split second before being blown away contributed to her survival.

...However, it was because of that enhancement that she now experienced excruciating pain without the luxury of dying easily.

"N-No... No, I don't want... Cough, cough, I don't want to die here!"

Clutching her side, the girl muttered, whispering like a delirium. She fought against her fear, trembled, and desperately struggled to escape the impending fate that loomed closer. Crawling away from the monsters, she found herself surrounded by the eerie creatures, forming a circle, closing off any escape route in an instant.

"No... I don't want to... I don't want to die...!!"

Amidst absolute despair, she desperately voiced her plea for life. It was a natural desire as a living being, wanting to survive. She continued to scream with all her might, vehemently denying the fate closing in on her.

...But all her efforts were in vain.

"No... No, no... I want to go home. Save me. Please, save me..."

To whom did she beg for her life? Was the desire to live fueled by the wish to meet someone? Her thoughts had become a jumbled mess, and she couldn't even understand that anymore. Her entire body grew cold, and her consciousness became muddled.

Nevertheless, she didn't want to die. Even though she had always been burdened with the lowly task of exploration for survival, she couldn't bring herself to accept her fate without a fight. Especially when there was no one by her side to accompany her...!

Yes, she knew. She knew this would be her end. But even so, she wanted to meet him, just one more time. She was afraid of death. To die alone, particularly so.

Her voice was choked with tears, her eyes blurred, her breathing faint. The darkness enveloped her vision, and the grotesque beings surrounding her. They were the signal of the end, the finale, and...

'Kukuku. Pitiful humans, are you afraid of death?'

In her blurred vision, from among the crowd of monsters, something appeared and uttered those words in broken speech...

* * *

Upon opening the unremarkable door, the scene that greeted me was another Japanese-style corridor. If there were any differences, it was that this one was not as dilapidated as the previous one. It appeared more simple, and the entire hallway was brightly illuminated.

...And there, a welcoming assassin for the intruder leaped out right away.

'RoaAARRRR!'

A one-horned giant bear roared, charging forward. Its path was blocked by an expanse of wriggling 'hair' that filled the passageway.

'Roaa... Kuun!?'

The assault of the onikuma ended abruptly. It had rushed in, attempting to tear through the countless hairs with its own weight, but it easily passed through the hair wall. The bear, having penetrated the wall with ease, was now perplexed, shaking its head left and right, trying to comprehend the situation. The hair wall had been a deception, a decoy. The real body was...

"Above us?!"

Along the ceiling, it stealthily approached right above us.

'Keukegen,' a youkai composed entirely of hair, was said to be inspired by a breed of foreign dogs with an exceptionally hairy appearance in my previous life. In this world, it seemed to be the result of a compromise between that and the current form.

In other words, it took the shape of a beast constructed by countless strands of hair.

'OooOOOHH!'

"Ah..."

"I won't let you!"

The mass of hair that had crawled along the ceiling like countless earthworms merged into one and leaped towards us. Reacting instantly, I stepped forward to shield Tamaki and cut the creature with my dagger. The high-quality dagger created by Gorilla-sama cleanly sliced off one of the creature's front legs. However...

'OooOOOHH!'

"Agh, sh*t! Well, of course it'll regenerate!"

The hairy lump, whose front leg had been cut off and thrown into the floor, immediately began to regenerate. Being a mass of hair, losing one or two legs wasn't a problem.

"Watch out! Oh no!!"

Then, several tentacles... or rather, braids, extended from the body of 'Keukegen' like whips or snakes, attacking us. I quickly cut two of them, but one wrapped around my neck as I tried to sever another, and in the brief moment it took, another captured my ankle. I was then pulled forcefully, rolling and dragged.

"Tomobe-kun!! Youuu...!!"

Tamaki appeared to rescue me. Stepping on the braids, she stabbed her Wakizashi into them. While it was a good weapon, it might be of slightly lower quality than my dagger. She managed to slice two-thirds of the braid, but the sword got tangled in the hair.

"Huh? Wh-What...? No!! No!! Aaah!!"

Struggling to cut through the entangled hair, Tamaki couldn't escape the impending attack from the youkai. Creeping across the floor, 'Keukegen' came from behind and covered her.

"Ah! Cough! Cough! Gaaah!!"

The youkai tried to strangle Tamaki by restraining her limbs and tightening its grip around her throat. She desperately resisted, but the hair's hardness was resilient, making it difficult to cut it with human strength alone.

But before the strength of the bear, Keukegen was helpless.

'Roarrrr!!'

Growling, the demon bear forced its left arm into 'Keukegen's' body. The right arm of the bear youkai had already been broken, and its left hand was crushed. That's why it used its left 'arm' to seize the hair and tore it apart in one swift motion.

"!? !?"

The hair youkai screamed in a voiceless agony. At that moment, I joined the fight and cut off the braid that was wrapped around Tamaki's neck. Coughing, Tamaki managed to escape the swarm of hair. I looked at the demon bear and nodded.

The bear captured the hair youkai and held it in its grasp. I found a nearby door with the sign 'Fire caution' hanging from it. Opening it, a blast of hot air erupted. The hair youkai panicked. But it was too slow.

'Guaaah!'

'( ・`д・´) Got you!'

The bear hurled 'Keukegen' into the room filled with flames. Cries of pain echoed from within. Several braids extended, trying to wrap around the edges of the door and the bear.

"Tamaki! Close it!"

"Y-Yes...!!"

Cutting the desperate braids with my dagger, I shouted. Tamaki, with teary eyes and coughing, responded. She closed the door, making a rattling sound. Immediately, a particularly thick braid got trapped in the door that was about to close, thrashing around.

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