“She’s safe. She’s receiving intravenous nourishment, so she should be able to recover soon.” Tsuzuri calmly explained.
“Why are you here?” I asked her.
“It was master’s order. We were aware that things had started to move here, but we hesitated too much in coming. Had we taken action sooner, I might have been able to help out in the battle against the Spirit Tamer…” Tsuzuri explained.
I took a deep breath after hearing that, then turned towards Oda, “Please answer me honestly.”
“What is it?” Oda asked.
“How many died?” I asked.
“Eight.” He stated plainly.
“And injured?” I asked next.
“None. People either died instantly, or came out miraculously unharmed. Fortunately, nobody has suffered for long.” Oda answered in a sullen tone.
“I see…” I muttered.
“What? Do you feel responsible?” He asked.
“A bit.” I replied honestly.
“Then please remove the curse you put on me and Akechi.” Oda told me.
“Impossible.” I stated plainly.
“Damn it.” Oda clicked his tongue and averted his eyes, “You know, I only helped you because Akechi told me to. I was against it.”
“Is that because I threatened to order you to suicide if you tried harming me?” I asked.
“Well, there is certainly that…” Oda grumbled.
“I can’t trust you guys.” I told him honestly.
Oda let out a deep breath. He didn’t seem to want to get used to this situation either.
But well, I suppose this kind of relationship with the people here might be just fine.
“Well, you know. Akechi told me that I shouldn’t worry too much about what you’re gonna do in the future.” Oda told me.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, until just now, I really wanted to kill, but I have since changed my mind a bit.” Oda replied.
“Oh?” I said.
“You see, for a long while now, I thought there was some god-like being who had scattered zombies and monsters throughout this world and started laughing out loud when seeing the chaos. I thought we were this mysterious bastard’s toys.” Oda said.
A god-like being, huh? I think Mr. Norio also said something similar to that a while back.
When considering what the current state of the world is, I suppose it isn’t strange to consider the existence of a God.
“Then, when I met you, I thought you were like, a herald of this god-like being, but… I think the reality is a bit different.” Oda told me.
“What do you mean?” I asked him.
“We are not the toys of this divine being. You guys are.” Oda explained.
Mmmm… That’s one way of looking at it.
Oda turned his back to me. Seems like that was all that he had to say.
But just as he was about to leave the room, he started speaking again, “Ah, I forgot to mention it. This is a room that is for the use of the executives, but since you’re a ‘super-promising newcomer’ or a ‘superhuman’ or a ‘guardian of humanity’, you can use it however you like.”
Then, Oda gave me a cynical smile, and left the room.