"I — I'm sorry, we don't keep anything that expensive at home, and at this hour there's no way to buy sweets from Toraya either."
Under the weight of Tomie's increasingly hostile glare, Kawabe Mayo panicked and snatched up a dorayaki, holding it out to Tomie's lips.
Tomie let out a cold smirk, took a single bite — and spat it straight back out without even chewing.
"Pteh, pteh, pteh! Cheap garbage like this is fit only for bottom-feeders like you — ugly, broke, and beneath contempt."
Kawabe Mayo was hit with a spray of sticky saliva and half-chewed red bean paste. She froze on the spot. Her cheek twitched once, twice, and then genuine, undisguised fury bloomed across her face — a flash of something that could only be described as murderous intent crossing her eyes.
"I understand you're in a bad mood, but I'd ask you to maintain some basic human decency and not take it out on other people."
The sharp rebuke came from the entryway. Amamiya Rin walked in, dragging a skinless corpse behind him, brow furrowed, his disapproving gaze settling squarely on Tomie's face.
Tomie clicked her tongue. She had nothing but contempt for what Amamiya Rin had said — but she didn't talk back to him.
"On Tomie's behalf, I apologize. And — I'm sorry. I wasn't able to bring your sister back alive."
"My sister… she…"
Kawabe Mayo's eyes locked onto the corpse — no skin, and not even a head — and her body swayed, her legs nearly giving out beneath her.
"I only found her body. As for the cause of death — it was likely someone, or something, with scissors."
Amamiya Rin kept it vague, deliberately leaving out his own guesses and what he'd actually been through. There was no benefit in knowing too much — unless you were a journalist, an archaeologist, or a folklorist.
Kawabe Mayo's expression remained utterly blank throughout, as though her mind had simply gone offline. She stared at her sister's body with vacant, wooden eyes that gave nothing away.
After a long silence, Kawabe Mayo finally gave a small nod.
"I understand."
The words drifted out of her like smoke — so light a single breath of wind would have scattered them.
Looking at her, Amamiya Rin thought he could understand. Mrs. Kawabe had been the oppressor of this household, the one who had inflicted harm on those beneath her own roof. Even if Mayo and Riki were bound to her by blood, after everything that had gone on for so long, it was hard to say how much of that bond still remained.
Feeling more lost than grief-stricken was, all things considered, perfectly normal.
"I'm going to take her back now. Before I return, please put your sister's skin back on for her — I'll contact someone who can handle the rest properly."
Amamiya Rin left Mayo with those few instructions, then looped Tomie's head back around his neck, took his cane in his left hand, supported Tomie's body with his right, and left the Kawabe residence.
Avoiding pedestrians, concealing Tomie's rather unusual condition under clothing — it took considerable effort before Amamiya Rin finally managed to fold himself into his jeep.
Tomie's home was a high-end apartment somewhere in the Setagaya area. He maneuvered her body onto the sofa, laid it out properly, and set her head on the cushion beside it. Then Amamiya Rin straightened up and looked around.
A spacious living room. Expensive furniture with clean, minimal lines. The city's nightscape spilling through the windows. The air itself seemed saturated with a carefully cultivated sense of luxury — opulent, and deliberate about it.
Compared to Amamiya Rin, who still had no fixed place to call home, this was in another league entirely. A hundred times better, easily.
(She does know how to live.)
The thought passed through him naturally.
"Like what you see?"
Tomie's head on the cushion caught his thought immediately, and the corner of her mouth curved into a satisfied little arc. Her voice turned soft and inviting.
"Then stay. Don't be a stranger."
"Well…"
Amamiya Rin hesitated for a moment — and then caught the current running through Kawakami Tomie's mind.
(You cover the rent, utilities, and living expenses. And while you're at it, take care of my daily needs.)
"Hold on just a minute! That's a bit much, don't you think — no, actually, way too much?"
Amamiya Rin's expression went dark instantly.
This wasn't even free labor anymore. This was her asking him to pay for the privilege of doing her bidding.
"Because — it — is — ALL — YOUR — FAULT!"
Tomie's voice shot up an octave. Her eyes went wide and round, and she launched into a passionate indictment, seething with righteous grievance.
"If you hadn't gone sticking your nose in and then come crawling to me for help, would I have dragged myself out in the middle of the night? Would I have ended up with some cheap knockoff version of me walking around? Would I have gotten my head cut off?! Do you have any idea how much trouble it is, how awful it feels, to grow a whole new body from scratch? Every single bit of this is your responsibility. You owe me compensation!"
"All my fault? Wasn't it because you were completely useless? You got one-shotted the moment you showed up, you didn't help with anything, and you turned into dead weight I had to carry."
Amamiya Rin couldn't help firing back at Kawakami Tomie.
Sending a head — it was a complete, textbook case of sending a head. Their opponent had been a badly wounded Slit-Mouthed Woman. At full strength, Kawakami Tomie was more than capable of pinning the Slit-Mouthed Woman, bottling her up in that alleyway. Instead, this one had opened with taunts the moment they met, contributed absolutely nothing, and then got one-shotted by a furious Slit-Mouthed Woman.
"I don't care! It's your fault! It's your fault!"
Tomie puffed out her cheeks and pursed her lips, looking every bit like a spoiled, willful little girl — if you ignored the fact that she was only a head.
(Yes! We formally protest this irresponsible behavior!)
(You must take responsibility!)
(Formal protest!)
(If you refuse to be held accountable, then next time you're in danger, we'll work to rule!)
...
The other Tomies from the Tomie Network had all piled on as well, every last one of them a spectator who couldn't resist poking the fire. But this time, for them, it wasn't purely entertainment — after all, where was the logic in doing real work and getting nothing in return?
"You all have to actually be useful, you know," Amamiya Rin said, rolling his eyes — but he didn't bother getting drawn into a prolonged argument with Tomie. With her talent for stubbornness applied to entirely the wrong ends, she could drag this out until the end of time unless he put his foot down for real. This wasn't worth crossing that line over.
"Fine, fine. I'll cover the rent and utilities. Living expenses — that's on you. And don't even think about asking me to buy you luxury goods."
As it happened, he still needed a place to stay. Staying in hotels was frankly inconsiderate to hotel owners, given his particular relationship with the paranormal.
Living here — well, Tomie couldn't die no matter what came for her, so even if some curse or bizarre entity decided to pay a visit, there was no risk of collateral damage.
Hm. Come to think of it, moving in with Tomie might actually be an act of public service. After all, even sleeping in his jeep, he ran a nonzero chance of dragging innocent bystanders into things.
"And what about me — am I not innocent?! I've been meaning to say this for a while: aren't you a little too hard on me? We're the closest people to each other, and this is how you treat me!"
Tomie had just started to let herself look pleased — and then she caught Amamiya Rin's inner monologue. The smug expression crumbled off her face in an instant, replaced by indignant complaint.
"Hard on you? No, no, no, not at all. It's precisely because I think of you as someone close to me that I act this casually around you."
Amamiya Rin collected his thoughts at lightning speed, arranged his features into something appropriately serious, and replied with great sincerity.
"Think of it this way — the polite things you say are for strangers. With close friends and family, do you really need to stand on ceremony? And the things you say to give a friend a hard time — could you really say those to someone you've just met?"
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