Chapter 6
There was no escape.
“Toshiya, grab them.”
The very instant Yaginuma gave this command, the half-bull form that was Utsurogi stirred, his colossal body moving sluggishly.
His hands, which could only be described as half cloven hooves, half human hands, clenched each of Yo’s skinny arms.
Cowering in overwhelming fear, Yo could not even bring herself to struggle. Carried as she was, the half-bull Utsurogi had her securely in his grip, both of her arms restrained.
“Come here.”
At Yaginuma’s order, Utsurogi walked off carrying Yo. In the middle of doing so, he snagged onto the fence, but marched forward regardless. Unable to bear the pressure, the timber fractured and went flying with violent splitting sounds.
An overwhelming Herculean strength. One that was beyond human possibility.
I trailed after Yaginuma and Utsurogi, Yo being held captive by the latter, as they exited the stable.
“Not going to resist, Mr. Kishibe?”
“… Wouldn’t you harm her if I did?”
“If it comes down to it,” said Yaginuma callously. “Acquiring livestock unharmed is preferable, but depending on the circumstances, a few sacrifices will be inevitable. You, Mr. Kishibe, and Toshiya with his high labor value will be prioritized.”
“That’s unforgivable … is she not your best friend’s daughter?”
“Yes, she is the precious child of my dear best friend. However, from the angle of wheat cultivation, her labor output is rather underwhelming.”
“Were you lying when you said that eating the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’ would cure her wheat allergy?”
“Her allergy is caused by her body’s immune system misinterpreting wheat as a foreign substance to be rejected. If she ingests enough of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’, her flesh will transmute, and her acclimatization will be complete.”
“In exchange she’ll become a monster too, won’t she?”
I took a sweeping glance at my surroundings. Beside the villagers that were hunched over, regardless of age or sex, the villagers that had transformed into livestock; cows, pigs, and chickens, had all also gathered.
“Everyone obtains a form according and proportionate to their temperament. For Toshiya, his privileged physique will transform itself into that like a bull which plows the land.”
“But you don’t seem to have changed?”
“You and I are one in the same, Mr. Kishibe.” Yaginuma pointed at his head. “A community needs someone for administration. No matter how much labor and livestock there are to employ, without a leader it will all waste away. Or, to expand the village by assimilating outsiders like this, it requires a human to fill that role.”
“That’s nothing but smooth-talk. Looks to me you’re just turning other humans into your slaves and using them at your own whim.”
Whatever Yaginuma may say, nothing changed the fact that he was reigning over this village as the master.
“… It seems that we aren’t on the same wavelength, Mr. Kishibe. From now on you’re going to live with us in this village, using that superb talent to draw manga, to communicate to the humans on the outside how marvelous the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’ is. What’s not to love about this arrangement?”
Yaginuma asked me as if he actually couldn’t wrap his mind around the reason why.
At that, I snapped.
“—Don’t underestimate me, I’m Rohan Kishibe. I draw what I want to draw. That’s why I’m a manga artist!”
“There’s no need to worry. Soon, you’ll come around to wanting to tell everyone about the magnificence of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’, I’m sure.”
Just then, Yaginuma stopped talking and slapped Utsurogi in the rear.
Utsurogi, in his half-bull form, made a loud gurgling noise, and vomited something out.
“Well then, please eat the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’. You don’t seem to have had enough wheat yet.”
Utsurogi’s expansive mouth was packed with glistening wheat kernels.
“Before learning the art of cooking, apparently primitive humans used animals to gain access to the nutrients from kernels covered with their hard husks …”
It was porridge of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’, regurgitated from the half-bull Utsurogi.
“Come on, Mr. Kishibe, please eat the wheat. It’s easier to eat now.”
I felt nauseous. While it is true that some species’ parents vomited up the food they consumed to make feeding their young easier, when I imagined myself eating that porridge, my head spun.
“Don’t be stupid, absolutely not!”
“Please eat. No … eat it!”
Yaginuma slapped Utsurogi hard. That hulking body began to approach us. Behind us, we were surrounded by the villagers and the livestock-villagers. There was no escape. Utsurogi let go of Yo, freeing his cloven hands to capture me. His heavyset arms drew closer to me, snatching me tightly by the arms. I choked on the scent of animal musk.
Ugh … Is he seriously going to make me eat that …?!
As if getting ready to devour prey, Utusrogi’s half-bull maw, filled to the brim with porridge, split open before my eyes.
“… Damn, ‘Heaven’s Do—’”
Even with the knowledge that my words would immediately be overwritten, I tried to activate my ability anyway to create an opening, even if only for a moment.
Just as I was about to do so, a small child—Yo—came between me and Utsurogi, breaking us apart. Outstretching her thin and delicate arms, she faced her father, who had undergone a complete transformation.
“Whatever Papa … eats, I can eat too …”
She said this in tears. Then, as if she were mustering all the courage she could possibly manage, she inserted her hand into Utsurogi’s mouth, her hand diving and scooping up the golden porridge of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’, the grains dimly gleaming in her hand.
“So Papa please, please turn back to the way you were …”
Crying, Yo tried to eat the porridge.
“Wha—”
But then, at that moment, Utsurogi suddenly moved. He swung his arm, and I was knocked aside. Additionally, the impact caused the porridge that Yo was holding to spill onto the ground.
Utsurogi then groaned, a guttural sound that forced itself from the depths of his throat.
“Don’t … it …”
His free will and identity should have vanished by now. He was supposed to be all but livestock at this point, unable to recognize himself, or even that the girl in front of him was his daughter.
“Don’t … eat, don’t … eat … it!”
He swallowed the wheat he had vomited out with a gulp, ensuring his daughter could no longer consume the wheat.
Indeed, what he did was something only the father of Yo Utsurogi would do.
His colossal body sent Yaginuma flying, who had tried to rush over in a hurry.
Then, turning around, he violently vomited the contents of his stomach in one continuous torrent. It was as if a bottle full of coins had been upturned and swung in one giant stroke. Like gold dust, a tremendous amount of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’ spilt and scattered all over the ground.
The more he expelled the grains of wheat from his body, the more he gradually returned to normal, until his appearance finally settled into looking like a human with horns.
In the moonlight, the grains of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’ shone a pale, platinum white.
Only moments afterwards, it was as if a sudden change overcame the livestock-villagers that surrounded us.
They stampeded towards the kernels of wheat upheaved by Utsurogi, rendering any villagers’ attempts to restrain them obsolete.
A cacophony of shrieks sounded as they all scrambled to collect and eat as much of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’ as possible.
In an instant, pandemonium erupted.
Utsurogi was uttering a cry. Although it sounded like the bellows of a cow, he was indisputably calling out his daughter’s name.
“Utsurogi! Your child is over here!”
Protecting Yo as we were about to hit the ground, I called out to Utsurogi. With his massive face glancing at me, it was hard to say if he could interpret human language at this point.
However, as Utsurogi approached us, his enormous body swaying, he carefully cradled Yo’s small body against his chest. Through this, although no words had been spoken, I knew for certain, from his actions, that the Toshiya Utsurogi standing right now was her father.
“Protect your daughter. I’m going to find a path—”
I took the lead, standing in front of the Utsurogis.
However, standing in our way, was the burly body of Yaginuma.
“How dare you … How could you take the precious ‘Gleanings of Paradise’ and …!”
He trembled all over, as if a terrible horror had occurred before his eyes.
Ignoring his words, I activated my Stand.
“―‘Heaven’s Door’! I’m going to find out what this guy is really up to …!”
In a flash, Yaginuma’s body unraveled itself, pages flipping open as they were exposed.
Cutting deeper than ever before, I took a glimpse into the essence of Yaginuma’s very being.
‘I heard that Toshiya’s child developed an allergy to wheat. Apparently, the burden of managing such a condition was too much for Toshiya’s wife and she left, leaving him to raise Yo by himself. I wonder how I could help my best friend …’
“Is this a memory from the past—?”
‘… I continue my work in developing genetically modified wheat. I’ve also made attempts at creating new varieties of wheat that wouldn’t trigger her allergies, but they were all failures. Maybe it is my approach that’s the root of this problem. I know it’s contradictory to try and create wheat that cures a wheat allergy. But I must do it. Toshiya and Yo are suffering even more …’
I continued to read Yaginuma’s account rapidly.
This man had, in his own way, been sincerely trying to help his best friend from the bottom of his heart.
And then, I found a description about the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’.
‘… This might work. I’ll name this ancient variety the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’. This could have been one of the first wheat precursors which humans had encountered more than 10,000 years ago. Its genetic structure differs significantly from modern wheat varieties. No, not just that. This ancient variety has the power to change the bodies of the humans who eat it. Indeed―, organisms who consume this wheat will have their body tissues reconfigured to absorb all of the wheat’s nutrients … this is it! With this power, the wheat allergy itself can be rewritten!’
Immediately after reading that description, this was the next page.
‘―No. This ancient wheat does not reform the constitution of the being that consumes it. Rather, it transforms the mind and body to place others under its control, transforming them into slaves propagating the wheat.’
His writing became more and more chaotic, as if his very thoughts were screaming out loud.
‘I’ve made a grave mistake. I’ve resurrected a monster from the distant past into the present―’
With that, the account concluded.
No, there’s still more!
There was a portion tightly bound shut, as if the pages of the book had been glued together. With ‘Heaven’s Door’, I pried open the concealed pages.
‘This human is to be used for keeping, raising, and multiplying livestock.’
In reading this, I finally understood.
“… No. This guy is the same as Utsurogi. This account isn’t Yaginuma’s. Another separate entity is inside of this man!”
‘More humans are necessary for propagating.’
‘Humans are “livestock” indispensable for prospering.’
‘Survive.’
‘Propagate.’
From these entries, and the fact that Yaginuma, who was supposed to be the ruler of this village, was aware of the true nature of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’ and yet continued to propagate and devote himself to the wheat regardless—
“‘We’ve been bestowed the honor of growing this wheat’―so that was true, literally. It wasn’t Yaginuma who was controlling this village …! It was the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’ itself!”
Indeed, this ancient wheat was a crop that transformed the animals that consumed it—humans—into convenient lifeforms to suit itself.
―And if this is the case, that means that this is a problem that can’t be solved by simply dealing with Yaginuma.
If it turned out that it was Yaginuma himself controlling the villagers by using the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’, the solution would have been to deal with him to settle the matter, putting it simply. But that was not the case. Moreover, even if the accounts of the villagers were to be rewritten with ‘Heaven’s Door’, the mental and physical dominance of the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’ was exceedingly powerful, to the point that any postscript written by me would be quickly erased. Likely, the only way to remove such domination was to expel the wheat ingested as Utsurogi did. However, leisurely waiting until everyone regained their senses was something which seemed impossible.
“… Capture them, capture them. Catch the humans who have figured out the truth and turn them into livestock!”
Yaginuma screamed his order with all his might, his body jerking and convulsing haplessly.
The power of ‘Heaven’s Door’ was starting to be matched in strength by the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’.
“So it has such a strong survival instinct as to be able to prompt something like that―”
In response to Yaginuma’s scream, the villagers picked up wheat grains and approached us.
Thanks to the contradictory conflict of interest, the villagers torn between picking up the grains of wheat and the ‘Gleanings of Paradise’s’ orders through Yaginuma, they had not fully surrounded the three of us yet.
But it was only a matter of time until all of the wheat was collected and they would come rushing at us to capture us.
“What are we going to—”
Held close to Utsurogi’s chest, Yo asked as if she were begging for help.
“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
“Right …”
“Yep.”
I nodded, slapping Utsurogi’s giant rump.
“It’s like the saying goes, ‘He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day’. To give us time to come up with a plan, we’re going to run away for the time being!”
With that, still holding Yo in his arms, Utsurogi started running at breakneck speed. The impact produced by his giant body acted as a murderous tackle, sending the villagers trying to block his way barreling left and right.
I ran behind him, swinging my hands and running as fast as I could.
Breaking through the siege.
Racing through the night.