"All these people are Mikoto?"
"Yes."
"So, Mikoto is a group?"
"Indeed it is. Let's get you taken care of over here before we talk more. Suzaki here will take care of you."
This Suzaki girl was surprisingly experienced in the medical field, she treated my pain with the most effective pain killer I had ever taken. In that moment one would have thought she was an angel. I said surprisingly experienced, because she looked no older than fifteen.
"Suzaki, are you a doctor?"
"I'm an unofficial nurse practitioner for Mikoto."
"I see. Well, thanks for treating me."
"Anything for the new Jagiri." I turned my head toward Yokota.
"How does she know about that?"
"All these girls know about it." A miniature army of girls who know about my secret. No, it's more accurate to say my curse. First, Yokota tells me she was the voice in my head that I heard years ago, and now there's a whole league of women who know far too much about me under this abandoned school. Is it possible I was taken into some fantasy world or game during my sleep while I was young? It was hard to adjust to the reality of the snakes, and now something like this happens.
Yokota sat me down with her for a good talk. I was determined to pester her with all my questions, and leave no mystery unsolved.
"Before I go into further detail about Mikoto, tell me more about your incident."
"Starting my first year of high school, every next day a person close to me was killed, until four people were killed total. My mom, dad, my only friend, and my former teacher. Each day, a note was delivered to my locker. All the notes were addressed with the name 'Saki'."
"So they could be connected."
"Eh?"
"Mikoto specializes in assassinations. The supernatural part of the acronym just for show, mostly. We kill targets who commit the worst crimes, and those who horribly violate moral code and ethics. Rapists, serial killers, mafia leaders, things like that. We've been dormant for a while though. Recently, we've found out that one of our members has committed four murders across a short time span. We also somehow learned that this person used Saki as an alias for committing the murders. It seems to me this is no coincidence. Therefore, we would like your cooperation in resolving this issue." Is there really a group of people that will help me set things right, or do they have some ulterior motive? There has to be an ulterior motive, right? How can there not be? After being betrayed by everyone, how can there exist a person who won't betray me? I can't believe in something as silly as trust.
"Ok, I'll cooperate for now."
"Thank you. But that's not the real reason I brought you here."
"Then what is?"
All of the women in the refuge we were in lined up in front of me, and bowed in unison. To my left, Yokota was down on one knee. "So you can be our leader." She said.
"Pass."
All of them, at once, said "Huh?"
"I'll pass."
"Why?" Yokota asked.
"I'm not willing to be responsible for a group of assassins. Also, I have zero experience leading anything. Also, I don't want to kill."
"Why not? You've already killed those three."
"I didn't want to! Do you think that I wanted to kill those guys? No. I was afraid for my life, and the Jagiri came out and acted on its own. I admit that the Jagiri most likely acted on my subconscious desire to hurt them, but I was thinking 'don't kill them don't kill them don't kill them don't kill them' the whole time after the Jagiri came out. I couldn't control what happened."
"As our leader, you won't have to kill anyone. Just look over us, and make sure things go smoothly. It's more of a title than an actual position. Plus, who wouldn't want to be in charge of all these beautiful girls?" Yokota leaned in closer with a smug face.
"I'm not that desperate. But, if I don't have to kill anyone, and you guys will help me find out who the person who killed my loved ones is, I accept."
"We appreciate your cooperation, leader. But know that the one responsible for your incident is likely in this room right now."
"I figured, but for now, my name is Kagawa Izanagi, and I look forward to getting to know you all." As I said that, all the girls there were smiling. But, one in particular. She had the biggest, brightest smile of them all. It was the most real yet unreal smile I had ever seen. I went to talk to her once all the girls dissolved. Her name is Kurihara Shiori.
"Nice to finally meet you, Izanagi."
"Likewise."
"I'm the chief of medical staff here at Mikoto."
"I see."
"I never thought we could meet so soon, my love."
I bounced back. Referring to me in such a manner made me extremely suspicious of her.
"What did you just call me?"
"I called you my love."
"Why?"
"Because I love you. Not because you have the Jagiri, but because you're you. Ever since I heard that the Jagiri had awakened and transferred its power to a successor, I got excited. What I never expected is that after all this time, It was you." The more this girl spoke, the more suspicious, afraid, and angry I got.
"All this time?"
"I've been watching over you for a long, long time, waiting for our day of meeting to come."
"Are you Saki?"
"Who?"
"Did you kill them? My parents?"
"I would never do such a thing! Although I am terribly sorry to bring it up this way, but in my observing I did discover the tragedies that happened to you. You have my sincere condolences."
"You're not Saki?"
"I've never heard the name, other than Yokota."
I didn't believe her one hundred percent, but her ignorance seemed more genuine than not, so I was relieved.
"Alright. Sorry to have hounded you like that."
"It's fine. I'm just overjoyed to have met you after watching you for so long."
" I somewhat remember seeing your face at school. So you're just a stalker?"
"That hurts a little, but... yeah."
"It's fine. I've been through too much to be intimidated by a stalker."
"Really? I thought I would repulse you because I follow you around and because of my obsessive nature."
"Nah, you don't scare me or anything. Besides, I don't have the right to be repulsed by you, or anyone else. It's everyone else that's repulsed by me. I've been the reject my whole life. This is the first time I've been so welcomed anywhere, so I really must thank you." This girl Shiori was red all over her face.
"You're always welcome here, especially in my arms, hehe." She was definitely daydreaming, based on the look in her eyes and her intoxicated smile. For unknown reasons, my wall which keeps people out, away from becoming close to me, was torn down then.
"I'll take you up on that." I leaned into her on the creaky hospital bed we were sitting on, and went in for a hug. She snapped out of her little fantasy when she felt my arms around her. She wrapped her arms back around me tightly. Her warm embrace was like nothing else. Holding back tears, I said "Thank you Shiori. After all this time spent alone and forsaken, this is the first time I truly feel cared about and loved."
She was a creepy stalker like she said, but after so much time spent in solitude, trivial things like that didn't matter.
"Thank you, Shiori. Truly. I'm so happy to know that someone cares about me. You've given me the hope that I never had. Thank you."