English
Indonesia
Chinese (Simp)
Japanese
Korean
Spanish
Portuguese
French
German
ArabicAnime Crossover: Eating Evil in a Daily World — Chapter 38
Chapter 38: Flexible Moral Bottom Line
Watching Hachishaku-sama writhe on the ground, her impossibly long limbs securely pinned by the jagged nails of the Pale Ghost Hand, Yotsuya Miko and Yui Yuigahama both felt an unexpected twinge of pity. The towering urban legend was currently twisting her body into unnatural angles, letting out miserable, guttural roars from deep within her throat.
Yozora maintained his easy smile. He shrugged his shoulders and spoke with absolute nonchalance.
“Well, this wasn’t exactly the kind of insertion I had in mind when I woke up today. But given the current situation, I suppose I have successfully ‘inserted’ Hachishaku-sama. New achievement, GET.”
Hachishaku-sama said nothing. She merely stopped her thrashing for a second to stare intently at his face, her ink-black pupils devoid of anything but pure malice.
Yozora turned his head. He noticed the somewhat sympathetic expressions plastered across the faces of Yui and Miko, and he let out a dry chuckle, shaking his head in disappointment.
“Why are you two looking at me like that? Evil spirits don’t feel pain. If you don’t believe me, just watch…”
Without missing a beat, Yozora casually pulled a short dagger carved from jujube wood out of his pocket. With a swift, fluid motion, he plunged the wooden blade directly into Hachishaku-sama’s pale arm.
“Ugh!!!”
Amidst the towering woman’s agonizing shrieks, Yozora offered a bright, sunny smile to the two girls standing a few paces away.
“See? She is not hurting at all.”
Miko and Yui exchanged a long, silent glance.
‘Isn’t she screaming in absolute agony right now?’Her massive body was literally trembling against the floorboards, her beautiful face twisting into a mask of pure torment.’How could that possibly be considered no pain?’
Never mind. It was not important.
If Yozora said it did not hurt, then it did not hurt. Arguing with his logic was a losing battle.
Yui had still not fully recovered her wits, too paralyzed by the sheer shock of the night to even form a coherent sentence.
Miko, on the other hand, was generally a gentle and kind person, but she was clearly not saintly enough to genuinely sympathize with an entity that had just tried to brutally murder them a few minutes prior.
Looking down at Hachishaku-sama pinned to the ground, Yozora felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to make her do some basic arithmetic.
He really wanted to see.
Who would hurt more, Hachishaku-sama, or that certain white-haired ghoul from the anime?
He pondered the idea of asking her what one thousand minus seven was, but eventually thought better of it. He could always find time for fun later.
Right now, there were far more pressing matters at hand.
“Can you stand up?”
Hearing Yozora’s question, Miko bit her lip lightly. She shakily pushed herself up from the ground, leaning her exhausted body against the cold wall for support, and gave a small nod.
“Mm. Fighting is definitely not an option anymore, but walking should not be too much of a problem.”
“Then let us head inside first.”
Hearing this casual suggestion, Yui’s expression shifted drastically. She looked at the terrifying Hachishaku-sama writhing on the ground, then at the massive Pale Ghost Hand pressing her down, and began to stammer.
“Yo… Yozora, you… you are not planning to bring these two things into my house, are you?”
“Why not?”
Yozora simply pointed toward the open edge of the outdoor corridor, his voice faint.
“You can take a look for yourself. I think this might no longer be the apartment building you live in.”
Yui cautiously walked over to the metal railing of the corridor and peered out into the direction Yozora was pointing. The scene that unfolded before her eyes made her gasp sharply. She covered her mouth with both hands, her pupils dilating in sheer terror.
“What… what is going on…?”
Her family’s apartment building was situated in a highly prosperous, bustling district of Kyoto. Normally, looking out from this corridor would offer a view of countless illuminated office buildings, streetlights, and the endless glow of city life.
But now.
All Yui could see stretching out to the horizon was a pitch-black, dead Kyoto.
There was no light. There was only a thick, churning darkness that seemed to swallow the very air. And beneath that suffocating black tide, massive, unseen presences seemed to be slowly stirring in the shadows.
“How could this be… Even at past one in the morning, it should never look like this…”
Kyoto was a major metropolis, not some abandoned rural village.
Even in the dead of night, it was mathematically impossible to see zero lights. Not a single streetlight was functioning. Not a single window glowed.
The city, plunged into absolute darkness, exuded a strange, deathly silence that sent a violent chill straight down Yui’s spine.
“Let us go inside first.”
Yozora did not offer any comforting words. He merely waved his right hand with a casual flick of his wrist. In response, the Pale Ghost Hand effortlessly hoisted the towering Hachishaku-sama up from the floor, dangling her in the air as if she were nothing more than a broken toy.
“Alright, come with me into the house.”
Seeing Yozora casually carry a legendary evil spirit through her front door, Yui swallowed her fear. She walked over to Miko, extending a hand to support the exhausted shrine maiden, and scooped up Sable with her free arm. The three of them, plus one dog and one captive monster, hurried inside. Yui carefully pulled the heavy main door shut, hesitated for a brief second, and then locked the deadbolt twice for good measure.
As soon as Miko collapsed onto the soft cushions of the living room sofa, before she could even properly catch her breath, she eagerly began to demand answers.
“What exactly is going on outside?”
Yozora was entirely unhurried. He first directed the Pale Ghost Hand to pin Hachishaku-sama completely upright and flush against the living room wall, ensuring she could not move an inch. Only then did he slowly begin to explain.
“Have you ever wondered why ‘Doors’ look like doors?”
These words left Yui, who was completely unaware of the deeper supernatural lore, utterly dumbfounded.
‘Why do Doors look like doors?”Why are fish fish?”Why are people people?”If you are not a fish, how do you know the joy of fish?”If you are not me, how do you know I do not know the joy of fish?”If you are not me, how do you know I do not know if you know the joy of fish?”If you are not me…’
Was this some sort of infinite philosophical nesting doll?
Did Yozora secretly study ancient philosophy in his spare time?
Miko simply shook her head, ignoring the existential dread, and replied directly.
“No, I really have not thought about that.”
Yozora shrugged his shoulders.
“It seems quite obvious now. The mutating influence that ‘Doors’have on evil spirits and ghosts might not actually originate from the’Doors’ themselves. Instead, it comes from the other World that they connect to.”
“Another World!?”
Hearing this revelation, Yui finally could not hold back her rising panic.
“Are we… by any chance, trapped in another World right now?”
“It should be.”
As someone who had consumed way too much media, Yozora knew far too many peculiar fictional settings.
Since evil spirits and ghosts existed in reality, it was not strange at all for there to be a mirrored Inner World Kyoto, operating on the exact same logic as Silent Hill.
“So that means…”
Miko mused aloud, her voice trembling slightly as the pieces clicked together.
“The power that causes evil spirits and ghosts to violently mutate through the ‘Doors’ is actually just the passive influence of the aura leaking out from a crack in reality… all because it connects to this specific other World?”
As she voiced this analysis, a deep, chilling sensation gripped Miko’s heart.
Just the ambient aura leaking from another World through a tiny ‘Door’ could cause such catastrophic harm and create monsters like the ones they had faced.
And now…
They themselves had actually crossed over into that very same World. A place structurally identical to Kyoto, yet fundamentally, terrifyingly different.
If that was true, then within this dead World, hiding within that dense, churning black mist outside… just how horrifying were the native monsters lurking in the dark?
“Anyway, since we are already here.”
Yozora spread his hands in a helpless gesture.
“You two go rest in the bedroom for a while. Leave the living room to me as my private space.”
His dark gaze slowly drifted over to Hachishaku-sama, who was still securely pinned against the wallpaper. A remarkably gentle, almost affectionate smile bloomed across his face.
“I want to…”
“No, absolutely not!”
Miko was so anxious she practically launched herself off the sofa, quickly interjecting to stop whatever madness was about to leave his mouth.
“What exactly do you want to do? You were not bewitched by this evil spirit, were you? Have you forgotten her true nature?”
Miko’s intense concerns were entirely justified.
In the urban legends, Hachishaku-sama was infamous for luring young, underage boys away to kill them.
Although Yozora was not exactly a normal boy by any stretch of the imagination, he was technically still underage.
If he were to be mentally bewitched by Hachishaku-sama’s supernatural charms, the resulting consequences would be utterly catastrophic!
“What on earth are you thinking about? I have a moral bottom line, alright?”
Seeing Yozora’s incredibly righteous, offended expression, Miko almost let out a heavy sigh of relief.
But before she could even exhale, she heard him continue with absolute deadpan sincerity.
“My bottom line is quite flexible. Everything is fine… except for the Monkey King.”
[Inorin’s Note: The “joy of fish” inner monologue refers to a famous ancient Chinese philosophical debate between Zhuangzi and Huizi regarding perception and empathy. The “Monkey King” comment at the end is a meta internet joke; web novel protagonists are infamous for romancing ghosts, snakes, and monsters, meaning Yozora’s “bottom line” for who he would sleep with includes terrifying evil spirits, drawing the line only at literal monkeys.]