Chapter 28: Diva

“Hmm? Why aren’t you answering, you two-cent lowlife? Did the cat eat your tongue?”

At a glance, the scene could easily be mistaken for an argument—one where the speaker had been wronged by the other.

With the sharp intensity of her gaze, it certainly seemed like something serious.

“U-umm… I-I…”

Yet, no one would believe that this was their first meeting—that neither of them knew each other to begin with.

Sawa raised her hands in a placating gesture, trying to calm the girl down while desperately trying to understand what had set her off.

But the other girl showed no signs of settling. If anything, she only grew more agitated, her irritation boiling over as veins became visible on her forehead.

“What are you mumbling about? Please stop. It’s creeeepy. Please don’t speak. Please don’t let your spittle fly out of your mouth. Please don’t breeeathe. Don’t you understand that your very existence is contaminating the air? You don’t, do youuu?”

“…”

How much better it would have been if this were a silent film…

“Uhhh. Y-you’re—”

“ON YOUR KNEES!”

Just as Sawa tried to make sense of the situation, the girl's voice rose to a piercing intensity, unleashing a deafening shockwave. Though it didn’t hurt Sawa’s ears, something was unnerving—unnatural—was woven into the sound.

“…”

Sawa remained frozen, locking eyes with the girl, who stared back in utter disbelief—her eyes wide open in pure shock.

“L-Look, l-lady, I-I don’t know w-what I did, b-but can we t-talk this out—”

“...Kill yourself.”

“Wh-what…?!”

Another shockwave-like sound rippled through the air, carrying the same eerie vibe Sawa had felt earlier. Yet again, Sawa was more confused by the girl's aggressive commands rather than the sound itself.

“I-I… W-what are you t-talking about—”

“...So you really won’t do as I saaay?”

The girl cut Sawa off once more, though this time, her tone was slightly less aggressive than before.

This time, the girl seemed to take her time, analyzing the figure in front of her. She took a deliberate step forward, her eyes narrowing as she examined Sawa more closely.

In contrast, Sawa instinctively took a step back, startled by the girl's sudden action.

“My orders don’t affect him…Could it be…? But for a man to be…?”

“...”

“W-wait… your chest…”

?!

It happened so suddenly, so unpredictably, that Sawa’s only reaction was to widen her eyes, frozen in place.

The girl suddenly reached out, pressing her hand against Sawa’s chest—

Silence…

Sawa didn’t even breathe. Her mind blanked for a moment, unsure whether to recoil or protest.

Then—

“…Fla… no, not that simple… I can feel softness at the sides. You’re hiding your breasts… You’re…”

The girl’s expression twisted into sheer disbelief, her fingers still pressed against Sawa’s chest as if trying to confirm the impossible.

“…Wait. Y-you’re not a man?!”

Sawa, still frozen, could only let out a strained, “H-huh?!”

The girl straightened, finally withdrawing her hand, as though she’d finally understood the whole story.

“Oh my~ Oh my~”

All the hatred that had laced her voice, all the grudge and irritation that had hardened her expression—it was gone. It was as if she had become a completely different person.

“Isn’t this niiiice? Isn’t this wonderful?~”

Her hands clasped together, and her eyes sparkled with an almost childlike glee.

“So you were just crossdressing~”

It was only then that Sawa’s mind snapped back to reality.

!?

Instinctively, her hands flew to her chest, as if to shield herself, and she took several hurried steps back. A mix of confusion and unease washed over her—along with a sharp, familiar pang of danger.

It was a feeling she had recently come to associate with men, yet now, for some reason, she felt the same way about the girl standing before her.

“Say~ Say~ What’s your name, dear?~ Mine is Miku Izayoi~ You can call me Miku, no need for honorifics, just Mikuuuu~”

As if completely unbothered by Sawa’s discomfort, Miku cheerfully closed the distance once again, reclaiming the space Sawa had put between them.

Or rather than unbothered, Miku seemed unaware of Sawa’s unease in the first place. It wasn’t until Sawa took another step back that Miku finally sensed something was off.

“Oh my? Did I scare you? I didn’t take you for the shy type—especially since you’re crossdressing~”

“Huh? Oh…”

“Hee-hee! It’s fiiiine~ I’m sorry about that. I’ll try to hold myself back for now, after all, We’ll have plenty of time later to enjoy ourselves together anyway~ But for now, wouldn’t telling me your name be a good start~?”

…

“What do you say? I already told you mine~”

Sawa averted her gaze for a moment, as if lost in thought...

“Sawa…”

Before bringing them back, letting the name slip from her lips.

“Y-Yamauchi Sawa…”

“Sawa~ hm… Yeah, that’s a really beautiful name you have…”

“…T-Thanks.”

“Mmm~”

Miku suddenly took another step closer, leaning forward as if trying to peek into Sawa’s eyes from beneath her bangs.

“Say, Sawa-chan~”

“??”

“Are you perhaps… a Spirit?”

Sawa stiffened.

And for a split second, a memory surfaced—Kurumi’s warning about how unaware the general public was of their existence.

The question hit her so suddenly, so forcefully, that for a moment, she forgot the inhuman actions Miku had already displayed in front of her—The possibility that the person in front of her wasn’t just an ordinary person of the general public.

“W-Why would you—h-how did you even come up with that? I-I don’t know what you’re t-talking about…”

“Ha-ha-ha! It’s fiiine~ No need to play dumb~” Miku withdrew her face, hand folded behind her as she walked in a cycle around Sawa, eyes glinting with amusement. “I mean, you completely ignored my pleas, so there’s no way you’re just a regular peeerson~”

“…I—”

“In fact, if you are a Spirit, I’m quite pleaaased~ I’ve always wanted to meet one besides myself. There are more of us, yeees?”

“Y-You’re one too?”

“Huh? So I am right! There are more, and you are one, aren’t you~?”

That… made sense.

Just then, Sawa’s mind finally caught up to the situation—the strange shift in the air, the eerie sound from before, and the bizarre way people were acting. It all pointed to one thing. Miku was also…

!!

As the thought settled, another realization hit her—one she had completely forgotten.

“The ambulance!!”

That’s right. Whatever Miku had done to those people, they weren’t in their right minds. So whoever needed help inside that vehicle… their life was at risk.

Snapping her head toward the ambulance, she saw it had pulled to the side, emergency lights off, with several cars stacked around it.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

Sawa turned to Miku, who looked completely unbothered by everything. Would simply asking her to turn things back to normal actually work?

She didn’t seem like a bad person, so it might be worth a try.

But first, Sawa needed to clear the cars out of the way so the ambulance could move once the driver was back to normal.

“Mu~ Sawa-chan, don’t ignore me~”

Miku’s voice barely registered as Sawa focused, slowly raising her hand toward the ambulance.

Everyone was brainwashed.

The only one still conscious—besides herself—was Miku, who, like her, was also a spirit. That meant using her power should be safe now... right?

That’s what she told herself—just before the ground beneath them began to tremble.

“Huh? Sawa-chan? What’s happening?”

“...”

Sawa exhaled, steadying her breath as she raised her hand higher.

The ground beneath the ambulance trembled, thin cracks spiderwebbing outward.

From the earth, green sprouts broke through, rapidly unfurling into thick, vine-like tendrils.

At first, only a few reached out—but soon, more emerged, twisting and curling as they crept up the sides of the ambulance.

The vines wrapped around the vehicle with careful precision, tightening just enough to hold it steady.

Then, with a soft groan of shifting metal and rubber, the wheels began to rise.

“Woah~”

Slowly. Cautiously.

The ambulance lifted from the ground, floating just above the cars like a puppet on unseen strings. The tendrils held firm, weaving together to keep it balanced, ensuring not a single fragment of debris tumbled onto the vehicles below.

Mimicking the motion of her hand, Sawa guided the ambulance through the air, inch by inch, past the blockade of cars.

Then, with a final, controlled descent, the ambulance settled back onto the road. The wheels hit the pavement with a soft, final thud.

Sawa lowered her hand, and the tendrils followed.

They slithered back into the earth, dragging every piece of displaced road with them, sealing the cracks and covering every trace of what had been disturbed. 

When the last vine vanished, the only evidence of what had just occurred was a few faint, hairline fractures in the pavement.

Miku, who had been watching in fascination, let out a low whistle.

“Woooow~ That was beautiful, Sawa-chan~”

Sawa exhaled again. The easy part was done.

She hurried toward the vehicle, ignoring Miku’s delighted clapping.

Peeking through the window, her suspicion was confirmed—the driver sat completely blanked out, eyes wide open yet devoid of awareness, hands frozen on the steering wheel.

“T-That bad… Uh, what was her name again… M-Miku?”

“Yes?”

!!

Sawa jolted in shock, instinctively jumping back a few steps.

The response had come from right beside her. Miku had already moved in, pressing up against the glass to peek inside.

“What are you so interested in… hm?”

The playful lilt in Miku voice suddenly faded. as her gaze locked onto the man behind the wheel.

“…What business do you have with this cockroach?”

“C-Cockro—? N-No, wait! There’s someone inside who needs to get to the hospital—it’s an emergency! S-So you should turn the d-driver back to normal, p-please!”

“Hm…”

Perfectly composed, Miku studied Sawa’s expression before smiling.

“You’re really a good person, Sawa-chan~ I’m really starting to like you even more now~”

She elegantly moved away from the window, strolling toward the back of the ambulance.

“But well, that depends on what the worth of the life in danger is~”

?

Without warning, she yanked the vehicle doors open with a violent thud.

“Hm?”

Inside, several paramedics were frozen in place. Lying on the stretcher in the center was a middle-aged woman—unconscious.

“Well~ That’s worth the effort. You’re good to go~”

Closing the door with a soft click, Miku patted the ambulance.

“Huh?!”

Suddenly, the driver snapped awake, eyes flickering with awareness as if he’d just emerged from a deep coma. He turned around in confusion.

“Go!”

Sawa didn’t waste time—she immediately pointed toward the open road. The driver’s eyes widened as if he suddenly remembered what he was doing.

“Y-Yeah!”

Without another word, he switched on the ambulance’s emergency lights and slammed on the gas.

Watching the vehicle speed away, Miku stepped beside Sawa, whose eyes were still fixed on the ambulance as it disappeared into the distance.

“Well~ now that all that trouble you are gone, can we have our little time—”

“I can’t…”

“Eh?”

Whether it was the sudden shift in Sawa’s tone or the unexpected and immediate rejection, Miku stood momentarily dumbfounded.

“Ah—I-I mean… I have a j-job to do… I can’t right now…”

Glancing around, Sawa took in the sight of the still-brainwashed people surrounding them.

“C-Can you please t-turn those people b-back to normal…? I-I get paid by the h-hours, and every m-minute wasted means I’m l-losing money…”

Miku blinked. Then, a slow, mischievous grin spread across her lips.

“Oooh~? So it’s about money, huh?” She clasped her hands together playfully. “Sawa-chan, if it’s money, I can just pay you to—”

“L-Look, just undo whatever you did, okay?”

…

A brief silence stretched between them, both studying the other’s eyes.

“So, you’re not the type to sell yourself, huh…” Miku pouted, tapping a finger against her chin as if deep in thought.

Sawa was left with no choice but to wait, hoping the girl in front of her was more reasonable than she looked.

“Hm, that should work too~”

With a satisfied nod, Miku raised her hand—and snapped her fingers.

In an instant, the eerie stillness in the air lifted. The people around them blinked, some shaking their heads as if waking from a strange dream. 

A confused murmur rippled through the crowd—some checking their phones, others glancing around, trying to piece together what they had been doing.

Sawa let out a relieved breath, pulling out her phone to check the time—she had already lost too much of her shift. Approximately 6,000 yen (~50 USD) gone… 45 minutes wasted just like that. She groaned internally.

“Did you hear about the Tenou Festival, Sawa-chan~?”

Miku’s voice pulled Sawa from her thoughts. The girl had already turned away, leisurely strolling back toward her car, her hands swaying behind her back.

“T-Tenou Festival...? Y-Yeah, I heard about it... W-Why do you ask?”

Miku paused, eyeing the bent frame of her car door. “Hmm, I should fix this later…” she mumbled under her breath, running her fingers along the dent.

Then, flashing a playful grin, she turned her gaze back to Sawa. “Well, you seeee~ I’m actually part of the festival! You probably didn’t recognize me, but... I’m kiiind of a famous idol, you know~”

“…”

Leaning against the car door frame, she added with a teasing smile, “Will you come to watch meee~? That would really make me happyyyy~”

“Ah… W-Well… S-Sorry, I can’t… I have w-work at that t-time…”

“Hmm~ But if you didn’t have work, you’d come, right? That’s a prooomise, Sawa-chan~”

“N-No, w-wait, I-I didn’t say—”

But Miku was already inside the car, cutting off Sawa’s protest. Moments later, the engine rumbled to life, and the car rolled forward, leaving Sawa standing speechless in its wake.

Still dumbfounded, eyes wide open following the black limousine as it disappeared into the distance. She reached for her walkie-talkie, bringing it close to her mouth.

A burst of static crackled from the other end, followed by a sharp, impatient voice.

“BOY! What the hell happened?! Why’s the whole roadway a mess?! What the hell’s going on—”

“...I quit... I-I don’t get paid enough for this…”

…

“…What?”