Yukino and Eriri were also walking home. Under normal circumstances, with their personalities, the odds of them chatting much were pretty low.
But once the topic suddenly shifted to Tatsuki, Eriri's mouth immediately opened up. She started talking to Yukino about Tatsuki.
And as she went on, Eriri's topic slowly drifted… until she was talking about some rather private things.
Those topics made Yukino feel incredibly shy.
When Eriri realized Yukino knew way too little, she instantly switched into teacher mode and began giving her a detailed explanation.
What could you say—this was exactly what you'd expect from Sensei Eiri Kashiwagi.
She didn't even need to draw what was in her head; just describing it with words was enough to make Yukino's face turn as red as if it were on fire.
But Yukino wasn't just feeling embarrassed.
In her heart, she quietly took note of some of the actions and positions Eriri described—things that were so shameful that just imagining them made her want to die of embarrassment.
Right when Eriri was getting really into it…
"Help!"
"Somebody help me!"
The two of them heard shouting for help in different voices.
Yukino turned her head, and her Observation Haki quickly locked onto the direction—around the corner up ahead.
"Over there!"
They exchanged a look. Eriri said, "Let's go check it out."
The two of them quickly reached the corner. And then they saw an incredibly horrifying, bloody scene.
"You're mine! Ah, you're mine! Become one with me!"
A man was using his teeth to tear chunks of flesh from a woman's body, and with his hands he ripped her long hair off along with her scalp.
Then, like a lunatic, he tore up his own scalp and slapped it over his own mess of bloody flesh.
The woman being ripped apart screamed in excruciating pain. "Hurry up and save me!!!"
With her torn-open mouth, she screamed toward a red-haired girl sitting collapsed on the ground in front of her.
She even reached out a blood-soaked hand toward the girl, trying to grab her.
"Help me!"
The girl cried out in terror.
The earlier cries for help must have been from her as well.
The situation was clearly urgent. Aside from that time with Tomoya, this was only the second time Eriri had seen such a terrifyingly gory scene, and she was so dizzy she nearly retched.
But then she remembered that she'd promised to become someone who could actually help Tatsuki.
She screwed up her courage and drew in a deep breath. She could still clearly enunciate the words. "Heavenly Dragon… Roar!"
Her mouth opened, and the air she exhaled turned into a tangible tornado of wind.
The wind-dragon blast sent the entangled man and woman tumbling several meters away.
She'd controlled it carefully. After all, they were humans; it'd be bad if she hurt them.
But it wasn't just the two of them being blown away—large splatters of blood were flung onto the walls, the trees, and the streetlights.
"Yukino, let's call the police!"
After pulling some distance between the two victims and the red-haired girl, Eriri pulled out her phone, ready to dial.
But Yukino suddenly pressed a hand over hers. "Wait, Eriri. That thing is not human."
Her gaze was fixed ahead, grave and tense.
The skin and scalp from the woman that had been on the man's body were now, like roots digging in, burrowing into his flesh.
And then bulbous lumps of flesh began to grow out one after another.
It wasn't just the man's body; even the scattered blood was starting to sprout meat-like tumors.
"Ah! I'm the only one! Hurry up and kill them!"
The woman still tangled up with the man screamed wildly at the three of them.
The moment she finished, a chorus of overlapping voices rose up in response.
"I'm me."
"Kill her!"
"Kill them!"
A scene that made all three of them shudder in terror unfolded before their eyes.
All those big and small lumps of flesh were growing into faces identical to the woman on the ground! All of them had the face of the same beautiful woman!
She was clearly beautiful, yet the sight made all three of them feel their skin crawl.
The largest body had grown out of the man's torso.
The man himself was no longer moving. His body was changing, budding out into the head, neck, and upper body of a woman.
She braced her hands against the original woman on the ground and cursed, "You damn thing, just hurry up and die already!"
"Y-Yukino, that woman's an abnormality. What do we do?!" Eriri hunched in on herself.
She didn't dare use her powers again. Just blowing that woman away earlier had already made the surrounding blood sprout a bunch of women.
Yukino didn't dare act rashly either. There was no telling if this woman's flesh and blood could continue growing even further.
"Let's restrain her first."
A pale white mist of cold spread out from Yukino's body.
"A-choo!"
The girl on the ground shivered, chilled to the bone by the sudden drop in temperature.
Crack, crack, crack!
She heard the sound of ice forming in winter.
When she raised her head, all she saw were frigid ice sculptures.
The man, the woman, and the growing woman—all of them had been frozen into lifelike ice statues.
"Your ability is so convenient," Eriri said, full of envy.
Yukino didn't relax; if anything, her willow brows knitted even tighter. "I can still feel that they're alive."
"Huh? They're still not dead after that?" Eriri was stunned by such tenacious vitality.
Even with her angel body, further strengthened by Dragon Slayer Magic, she could feel how bone-chilling Yukino's cold aura was.
Yet that woman, who'd been attacked by an ordinary human, hadn't died even after being frozen solid into an ice sculpture!
"Let's tell Tatsuki-kun first. Fortunately, there aren't many people passing through here."
Yukino took out her phone and sent a message to Tatsuki.
…
"That's what happened."
Having arrived via direct Spatial Movement, Tatsuki quickly grasped the situation through Yukino and Eriri's explanation.
He gazed at the faces embedded within the ice.
Beautiful features, snow-white skin, long hair that shimmered with a jewel-like luster, straight-cut bangs, and a tear mole at the corner of her eye.
That tear mole.
The man's madness.
The growth of flesh and blood.
Together, it reminded him of something—or rather, of a phenomenon—that possessed all these traits.
"Tatsuki-kun, do you know what kind of monster this is?" Eriri gripped her own hands. Compared to Yukino's composure, she was clearly still shaken.
Tatsuki said in a low voice, "It might be Tomie Kawakami."
"Tomie Kawakami?"
He began explaining to the two of them what he knew about Tomie Kawakami.
Tomie's appearance seemed to trigger an intense, positive fixation on her from those around her.
Any man capable of feeling desire for women—no matter if he was good or evil, old or young—would fall head over heels at first glance for her.
Those so captivated by her would often develop a twisted blend of intense love and hate toward her.
It usually started with love first, then slowly twisted into hate over time. They would listen to her orders and go kill people. They would also kill her and dismember her.
Because only by doing that could a new Tomie be made.
Tomie could regenerate herself from even the smallest living part of her body: hair, bone, skin, even a drop of blood.
Her body possessed extreme resistance, and her regenerative ability was strong enough to withstand strong acid and gamma radiation.
Each independent fragment of her could grow into a completely new clone of Tomie, each with its own independent consciousness, able to share memories with the others.
The personalities of different individuals varied slightly.
Some were relatively mild, while others were extremely flamboyant and brazen.
Soaking her in strong acid could stop Tomie from continuing to grow.
....
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