1.29: Life is a BoomerangThis oni really hates men.

  I eyed her warilly. Like… truly without any reservation hates us.

  I was convinced that I was her designated stress ball. Every punch, every hit, every shrieked insult felt like three years’ worth of pent-up misandric vengeance being pounded directly onto my faceless head.

  I y on the ground dramatically flopping like a carp on a hot beach while she marched to the nearest kiosk. I didn’t even bother pretending to get up until the crowd’s collective side-eye grew so intense that my shame forced me upright. I peeled myself off the floor and leaned against the nearest kiosk’s wall, sighing dramatically through my noh-mouth.

  Then I heard her voice. She must have gone into this kiosk in particur.

  “Um… do you have any germ masks for sale, pretty please, store manager-san?”

  Her voice was…Surprisingly Cute.Weapon-grade cute.Illegal-in-eleven-prefectures kind of cute.

  I furrowed my noh-brow so hard my helmet creaked.

  The store owner peeked up from behind the counter. “Hmm… I think I might have one left in a box in the back. Just a sec.”

  “Yay!” Rui chirped, doing a tiny excited hop.

  Yay?

  We’re not even asking why the masks matter anymore?Did she give up on trying to understand?Did she simply decide the mystery wasn’t worth solving?Was she just going with the flow?I wasn’t suicidal enough to ask.

  She hummed while tapping her fingers rapidly on the counter, her expression almost serene. I had seen her without anger before… in briefly spurts But I’d never noticed how cute she could be when she wasn’t snarling like a gremlin queen. Her eyes usually commanded the room like twin searchlights. A giant eye of the dark lord commanding complete obedience. Now they were strangely soft.

  Why?

  Trying to distract myself, I dug out my phone and checked the time.Twenty and five o’clock.

  I blinked.

  …Oh. 20:05. I was too stressed to read time normally. Just three hours and fifty five minutes left.

  “Ah, yes!” the clerk excimed as he emerged triumphantly from a stack of boxes. He held up a single sealed germ mask. “Here it is! Wow, you’re one of the cutest little girls I’ve seen tely! Although these aren’t worth much, so go ahead and take it.”

  I frowned.If only he knew how unholy she truly was. Did she routinely profit from that kind of a fake sweet act? She obviously saw herself as being cute, despite how much she seemed to hate being seen as a child. She wasn’t afraid to exploit it. Conceited little oni.

  I’d never had the courage to try to leverage my mean face. I was too straight-ced for that. What was I going to do? Hold up convenience stores for snacks? That’d be about all my face could buy for me. Well, that and a lifetime in a dank cell in a prison.

  Then the clerk’s eyes flicked toward me.

  “You got any business here? I sell medicine. You got a cold or something?”

  “Oh… No. I’m just hanging out on this corner. Don’t mind me!”

  “Aren’t you too old for being a freak sentai addict? Even though it’s Halloween… Creepy. Not like I haven’t noticed you peeking gnces at my customer here. You a stalker?” He rolled up one of his sleeves, his eyes narrowing.

  O U C H.

  I literally colpsed onto the floor again. He must have missed our little performance earlier. To think of it, Rui was beating me over the head on the other side of this kiosk.

  His words pierced my heart like a sniper round. I’d gotten comments like his back at work, too. Sure, some coworkers tried to be kind and cheered me on, but the truth was simple… people liked me far more when they couldn’t see my face. I was a normal human being.

  They only judged me based on my actions now.

  Would I ever be treated as a human again, even if I regained my humanity before the stroke of midnight? Knowing that I might not be hurt.

  Before I could fully melt into a puddle of emotional devastation, Rui’s voice cut sharply through the air.

  “Thanks for the mask,” she said sweetly, “but don’t be a jerk, please. He’s my friend.” She walked back toward me with a smile and… without warning, grabbed my arm and pressed it to her chest in a disturbingly intimate way. “I’ll have you know something special about my Red Ranger here friend. He’s saved several people just today. You shouldn’t casually insult a neighborhood hero like this!”

  …What?

  My brain locked.Then rebooted.Then blue-screened.

  She defended me?Defended me?!

  The oni had sprouted wings to go with her horns. She was evolving into an angelic-demonic aberration powered by pure contradiction. I stared at her in stunned silence. Did she actually lie for my sake? I’d saved no one. I could barely save my own sorry ass.

  The man blinked, taken aback, then scratched his cheek sheepishly.

  “I’m sorry, Red Ranger-san! Keep up the hard work!” He bowed, apology shining in his expression. “That was truly uncalled for. My bad. I’m just freaked out by this whole mask obsession today. I nearly sold them all out and kept one for myself in case this turned out to be some kind of a legit outbreak. Literally everyone’s been wearing them for the st few hours. I don’t know why. I even put in an order for a few boxes of them.”

  That expined why he wasn’t wearing one, himself. He’d given the st one to save a girl that he’d just met. The guy was a real hero, despite how he’d treated me. He was trying to protect her on every front out of instinct. Stalkers left, epidemics right. I was impressed by him.

  Then he suddenly lifted his arm.

  Something flew at me.

  I caught it automatically, reflexes kicking in.

  It was a tonkatsu sandwich, a deep-fried breaded pork cutlet tucked into two slices of milk bread, with a yer of shredded cabbage and a drizzling of tonkatsu sauce. One of the most precious food items that kiosks sold. They always sold out in minutes.

  My stomach growled violently.

  “I was saving it for the ride home,” he said, shrugging. “My wife makes the best cutlet sandwiches in the whole world. Please take it. No charge. I feel guilty I only had one mask left and judged you so harshly. Stay safe out there Magiranger Red! By the way… this station has been a little creepy as of te… and I’m not even talking about the mask thing. I’ve seen shadows literally writhe in strange ways today.”

  He pointed directly at the tunnel on the Yamanote line.

  Shadows… moving?That wasn’t ominous at all.

  I wasn’t sure how to feel. This was almost a confirmation that what we were looking for was here. But then again, he’d thrown me a delicious sandwich. I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast. Warm tears of gratitude filled my helmet.

  More importantly, I was just treated like a potential threat rather than a monster.

  “Now, now. Enough with those tears, Susumu…” Rui said, patting my wrist. “I know how you feel. Also, you know that you can’t eat that.”

  She whispered that st part like she was delivering a death sentence.

  Oh.Oh right.No mouth.No face.No eating for me.

  I cried even harder.

  “Uwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!”

  A train roared into the station, rushing toward the ptform and it was on the Yamanote, heading in the right direction. The air buffeted my cloak. It fluttered like a banner, forecasting the pending battle for my humanity.

  My noh-throat tightened. That train would take us toward my home as well. Back toward the pce where everything had begun. Toward a confrontation I wasn’t sure I was ready for.

  I silently handed the sandwich to Rui.

  Some sacrifices were necessary and inevitable.

  “Thanks, Susumu!” she chirped, smiling brightly as she fshed a victory sign with her fingers before stashing the sandwich in her bag. Her cheerfulness made me feel paranoid. Maybe she was maniputing me the whole time… or maybe not. I genuinely didn’t know what was what anymore.

  The train doors opened with a hiss. Exiting passengers froze at the sight of the sea of masked people waiting to board. Their hesitation was palpable. Those already inside the car shrank back, anxious.

  Rui strapped on her newly acquired mask the instant we stepped aboard.

  No seats were open, so we stood shoulder-to-shoulder near a pole together.

  “Oh no!” Rui whined. “I can’t eat the sandwich if I’m wearing a mask!”

  I could practically feel her pout radiating like heatwaves coming off her small disgruntled body.

  “Tell you what,” Rui said, tucking the sandwich carefully into her bag like it was a precious artifact, “if we manage to crack this case by midnight… we’ll celebrate by splitting this delicious sandwich.”

  Her eyes sparkled above her mask.

  I was floored. Again.Was this the same oni who had treated me like a stress ball all these hours?Had my kind gesture to the old woman triggered a hidden empathy switch inside her?

  “Oh… that sounds great—” I caught myself. “Anyway… what’s the pn now, Shinohara-san?”

  “Ehhhh?” Rui shrugged. “Didn’t I tell you that you can call me Rui-Rui or Rui-Rui-sama? Rui’s fine if your tongue trips on those. We ride to your station and wait to see if something happens. Maybe back and forth a few times if necessary. That comment about shadows makes me almost completely sure that something’s going to happen.” She extended an index finger.

  I nodded seriously, touched by her gesture. “...And if it appears? Am I seriously gonna have to py bait? Is that really how this works? It’ll just… somehow sense me?” My voice cracked embarrassingly.

  “Hmmm…” Rui tapped her germ mask thoughtfully. “I joked about you being bait for it. I’m not entirely sure it’ll give a flying bleep over you now that it has your face… but honestly… You never know. It could be that simple. Maybe it’ll still be interested in you… maybe even me.” She nudged me. “So no matter what happens, protect me. I’ll watch your back..”

  “Eh? But…” I leaned down to whisper near her ear. “If I lose my mind… what if I become some kind of super-powered baby like it? I’m not kidding. It was going like… Saaaaaassssaaaaaa Uuuuuuuu! And it beat the crap out of me. Not fun, I promise.”

  The train doors hissed shut, and the recorded announcement droned overhead. Neither of us paid it any attention. We’d reached the point of no return.

  “That would be… a huge problem,” Rui admitted. “But I just…” She hesitated. Rui never hesitated. “I don’t think you’d hurt anyone if that happens. You’d probably just cry a lot on your own and stick random things in your mouth. But even with everything I’ve done to you… you’ve never once shed out at me.”

  I looked at her pointedly, remembering when I chased her around Natalia’s warehouse. It took Natalia stopping me from getting my petty revenge on her for her snipes.

  “Well… maybe just a little.” She flushed a little in embarrassment. “But I know that you wouldn’t hurt a fly. Not really.”

  Her voice drifted lower and she hesitated.“Look, if this thing attacks us next, I can’t predict what it’ll do. But I want to say this now while we have a moment. I’m… I’m sorry. I’ve been really rough on you.”

  My soul combusted.I gasped and almost noh-drowned in my own tears.

  “No! No tears!” Rui grabbed my colr and shook me like she was trying to reset my emotional software. “CALM DOWN!”

  “I—I’ll try…” I sniffled. “I’m just… not used to compassion. And there’s this thing that might show up and…”

  “Don’t worry, Susu,” Rui said, and her voice softened into something warm and genuine. “Look at my face. I’m serious. I know I don’t have spiritual powers or anything… I do have a trump card that I’d rather not py, but I’ll watch your back.” She puffed out her chest. “We’ll be fine! Hehehe… remember that in a pinch, I’m a superhero too!”

  She struck a pose so dramatic I had to ugh.

  “Germ Eradicating Sentai Force?” I guessed.

  “That’s right!” Rui cried, dropping into a mock-battle stance. “It means I’m in fighting mode! Hiyaaaaa!”

  The image of her as a mini-sentai warrior was too much… and too amazing for words. I shook my head, smiling despite myself. The contrast between this cheerful gremlin and the oni who’d been trying to assassinate me all day gave me serious whipsh.

  Still… as kind as Rui was being, I couldn’t stop thinking about Natalia-sama.Her kindness.Her warmth.Her…I forced myself not to think about her breasts, which would inevitably cause more noh-nosebleeds.

  I hammered at my helmet. GET OUT OF MY HEAD PERVERT DEMONS!!! GET BEHIND ME!!!

  A flicker of motion caught my peripheral vision.

  “Wait… I didn’t mean that… literally.”

  Outside the train window—Something was moving.

  It was something fast.

  Something was watching.

  I noh-swallowed hard, panic blooming. I got serious goosebumps.The Noh-face… could it reach through the gss?Tear the door open? With all these people onboard with us?Would it appear right between us?

  Without thinking, I grabbed Rui’s arm.“E-excuse us!” I apologized as I pushed us through the crowd, bumping passengers in a semi-rude scramble, heading for the safety of the center of the train car where nothing could grab us through a window.

  Rui let me drag her until we stopped. Then she looked up at me, brow furrowed.

  “…Why?” she asked softly.

  “I’m anxious. Call it noh-tingles. Not just that…” I whispered. “I thought I saw something out there.”

  “Ahahaha… Susumu, you’re such a girl.” She rolled her eyes. “Are you sure that you’re a guy? You smell kinda feminine.”

  I gaped at her.

  At a time like this… she noticed how I smelled?

  Then I remembered.

  Reiko-chan’s roses.Her favorite scent.Her shampoo.Her voice telling me, “Try it! You’ll like it.”

  Reiko-chan’s scent had always mesmerized me since she completed her transformation to a girl. There came one day where she started smelling too nice and I couldn’t help noticing her. She had always been special to me, but that scene made her even more special.

  Ever since then, I’d bought the brand and mixed a little rose-scented soap with my own.I hadn’t thinked about it ever since. It had become a tradition, a ritual.

  Kami, I missed her.

  And ever since, if I caught a little whiff of it on myself, I could almost imagine she was standing beside me again.

  I swallowed a lump in my noh-throat.

  Rui’s voice pulled me back.“Hey… I trust you. You saw something, right? Outside?”

  “Yes… there was a motion. And my tingles tell me that… it’s eyeing us.”

  Rui nodded, her eyes narrowing behind her own mask.“Yes. It is. A lot of people are watching us now and again, too. But this is different.” She lowered her voice. “I’ll check it out. Do you think you can lift me onto your shoulders?”

  Relwing