Died and Came Back to Life
There are truly mysterious things in the world that ordinary people never know about—things rightly called the occult or conspiracy theories. What, does that make me a conspiracy theorist? No. Because just moments ago, I died because of one of those mysteries.
Beep—
Gurgle. Gurgle.
A black, slimy thing that clumsily mimicked a human stared down at me silently. I tried to meet its gaze in a staring contest through my hazy vision, but I couldn't. I was already feeling off from all the blood loss, and looking at it made my head throb.
"Ugh..."
Blood trickled from my nose and mouth. And from my stomach too. It wasn't the seven orifices bleeding or anything dramatic like that. The blood from my gut was from the hole it had pierced right through me. And that wound was being eaten away in real time by something black.
'Calling 119... won't work.'
Those dedicated folks at emergency services were full of professional spirit, but summoning them would just create more victims like me for no reason. Was it misfortune or a blessing? The place where I'd met this thing and faced a lonely death was a dingy alleyway. It meant almost no chance of someone passing by and dying too.
Of course, that wasn't something for a guy on the verge of death to say... but at least it was fortunate that I was dying alone right now. It'd feel awkward if someone else died alongside me for no reason.
Gurgle. Gurgle.
"You diarrhea-fart bastard... What did I ever do to you...?"
I cursed at it out of pointless frustration, but the thing just kept staring silently. Was this how I'd meet my end under its gaze...? That was when it happened.
Tap. Tap.
'...Foo, tsteps?'
Footsteps echoed from far away. More precisely, the slow shuffle of an elderly person, accompanied by the tap-tap of a cane.
'No, don't come... Granny or Grandpa...'
"Don't... cough... don't come here..."
But was it already too late? The footsteps were almost upon us, and the black slime had turned its head.
We couldn't have another victim. I slowly reached out a hand and rasped,
"Run... away..."
But the elderly figure who finally appeared—no, the old woman—didn't run. Instead, she opened the book she was holding, said something to the black slime, and then, just before I lost consciousness, she approached, muttering something as she asked me a question.
"Y-yes... yes..."
I answered her question without understanding a thing.
And then...
Flap! Flap! Flap!
Flutter-flutter!
"You lot, if you fight one more time and tear even a single page, I won't restore it."
Flap. Flutter.
Flutter-flap.
For some inexplicable reason, I had become a girl—the librarian of the Shinbi Library, filled with books that moved on their own.