Chapter 23: Normal Day In Another World

The middle-aged Japanese man was held in place by thick chains of iron. A vast, curved bank of computer monitors on one side of the room. On the other side, an equally large and complex machine, filled with tubes, wires, and lights. He was struggling with all his strength to break free; all the while, a cord connecting to an IV stands with an unknown substance. 

"Please let me go!" The restrained man lets out a shrill, deafening shriek in Japanese pleading.

"Now, now, I need you to be still for this; from watching the others, it'll be less painful that way."

Daubeny watches as the man's body becomes transparent. At the same time, his bones shined a sicking yellow, as a gash oozing with a mix of blood and pus, and his entire arm burst open with a gory mess with a crab-like pincer replacing the limb.

"Oh, I see. So it doesn't matter what kind of human transforms; the animal's cells determine appearance."

Daubeny jotted down in his notebook as the same process occurred to all the other man's limbs. When Daubeny looked up from his notebook, he saw the man looking back at him. The whites in his eyes were starting to look like a fly's hexagonal eyes, with a waxy blue. 

"BaChI gA AtarU." The man spoke with a deep, guttural, choppy voice before he broke free from his chains and the rest of his body transformed. The Gear begins charging at Daubeny.

Only for Daubeny to raise his hand, with a magic circle hovering over his palm, as golden radiant light slams down on the monster. The beast lets out a piercing screech and drops dead on the floor. The magic circle disappears, and Daubeny begins walking over to the body.

Cleaning up the remains and washing himself of the grim he had gained from traveling, entered his makeshift room. Lifts up his bed to reveal a small locker and puts in the code FADA, revealing more journals and putting the new journal inside before heading off to sleep.

-

After resting for a day at his secret location, Daubeny left in the morning, deciding to run the rest of the way to avoid being spotted in the sky. 

Running for weeks on end to Transylvania, his mind was set on what he had done earlier with that man. Shaking his head, he thought, "It wasn't that bad; I've only been intrigued by less than 80 people."

The experiment was to see if he could infuse Gear Cells into a human subject to unravel some mysteries of the metamorphosis into a gear. Three years prior, another experiment involved a Zepp "intern" changing their genetic makeup to introduce a unique genetic mutation that would increase their strength with each new generation. The adult was returned to Zepp; even Daubeny didn't know what they were doing now.

Finally arriving in Romania, he ran over the countryside of Transylvania, and after a few hours of running, he sighed thankfully, spotting a fancy, medium-sized manor made of cobblestone perched near the shore of a sizeable stretching lake and two pointed towers in the distance.

Looking at the pretty scenery, he spotted a pathway stretching across some parts of the lake as he made his way to the bridge. Noticing no people were within sight, he flapped his wings, reaching the balcony quickly. But as he opened the doors, he saw something unexpected. 

There was Slayer with his fangs out and ready to bite into the neck of a woman. She had pin-straight black hair, grey eyes, and pale skin. She wore a tightly fitted and short red dress with a slit down the side.

However, instead of biting her in the neck, Slayer kissed her lovingly. Daubeny wasn't too surprised by this and shouted, 

"Awww! A classical moment where a vampire sucks his wife's blood. Going against his nature and shows affection instead. How romantic~!"

After a few seconds, the immortals reluctantly break off from each other as they turn to face Daubeny, and Sharon speaks up. 

"Hello again, Daubeny, and thank you for that comment. Now, what brings you here?" 

"I need some magical components for a device I'm working on, and I was wondering if you knew any place to find them," he explained. 

"Of course, but I need something of equal value in return." Slayer nodded.

"Sol won't be using this weapon for very long; how about I give you a component that will turn into a weapon of your choosing when he's done using it?" 

"Then it's settled; what about you, Sharon?" Slayer said while turning to face his wife.

"I would love to visit them. Let me go get my things." She smiled and went off into the manor. Once she was out of view, Slayer held Daubeny by his shoulder and arm.

"Thank you for your timely intervention. Sharon has been using the internet late for some reason and somehow became FAR more "demanding" in her needs than usual." Slayer took quick looks behind his back in fear.

"A-alright?" Daubeny responded, confused.

"She has relentlessly been "asking" me all week. She seems to be getting worse with the ways of how her blood gets sucked-" Slayer lamented while tightening his grip.

"Uhm, o-okay? You shouldn't have let Sharon look at that type of internet in the first place." Daubeny said helplessly, shaking his shoulders. The Gear turned his head to face the distraught Slayer, seeing Sharon with a hungry gaze.

Shadows formed above Slayer's head while he adjusted his cape, saying, "Oh, I can't fathom the things she'll do to me..."

"Um... Slayer? Sharon's right-."

"Bloody Hell!"

In a rush, the vampire transported Sharon and Daubeny with his red cape, disappearing into thin air. 

-

There is a world that exists in a dimension completely different from the Backyard and this world, Earth. That world is separated from both, and it is impossible to come and go freely without the definition of the Backyard. This world has been a foreign land inhabited by many different inhuman beings since ancient times.

Yomotsuhirasaka. It is the most famous world of them all. It appears as an imaginary land in the old Japanese peoples' ancient documents, Kojiki and Nihonshoki. Of course, it is a world created with longing and awe in the sense that it was a place beyond the reach of almost everyone at this time.

What is noteworthy here is the fact that people at that time had the concept of a dimensional world different from the present world, such as the afterlife. For right now, the existence of the Backyard was only hypothesized. In the next century, the course of this research, the existence of a world inhabited by non-humans, such as Yomotsuhirasaka, would be deduced and hypothesized to be a world in a different dimension than the Backyard.

-

They all reappeared, and instantly, Sharon managed to pry Slayer from Daubeny with little effort as she started dragging the vampire off. Becoming lost within the crowd.

"Daubeny, HEEEELLLLPP!" Slayer screamed, vanishing into the crowd of people.

"....."

Daubeny found himself baffled in this place, surrounded by various humanoid creatures. With the sky painted dark, he walked down the street, noticing that some of the creatures that looked human had horns, dog ears, or cat ears. While others were literally giant spiders or tigers. 

Some time passed, and only then did Daubeny realize that he really had no idea where he was. Sharon and Slayer had abandoned him. And he wanted to avoid asking for directions from these creatures.

The streets Daubeny was on now were mostly empty, save around ten humanoids. All that was noticeable was a large lake with a narrow dock, with one man with short white hair and wolf ears laying his back on the wooden planks. His eyes were closed, seeming to be relaxing on this night.

"Excuse me? Could you tell me where this place is?"

Opening his eyes slowly, he sat him, stretching his neck. 

"Yomotsuhirasaka, but you should know that since we don't get many visitors." The man said in Japanese.

"Well, I'm just here for a short visit, but it's nice to meet you, names Daubeny; what's yours?" 

The Gear replied in the same language and sat beside the wolf man, with his legs swinging freely.

"You can call me Oyabin, but my name is Izuna," Izuna said, easygoing.

"So, do you know where I can stay or rent a room?"

The wolfman pointed down the street from the right. "Continue down this street and make a left at the intersection, and then continue by going right, and you'll make it to an inn." He paused before looking again at Daubeny. "Care for a chat before you go?"

"Sure, though I wondered if you liked any songs from here."

"Not from here, but from Japan. Their food, song, culture, I love it all!" Izuna's ears perked up at this question, and they spoke joyfully.

"If it's songs you like, one of my favorite songs I like to listen to sometimes is the Songs of Kusatsu."

"That is a great song; here are some of my favorites." They continued to talk for hours about food, music, and other Japanese facts until a high-pitched voice brought them back to reality.

"Hey, hey, Oyabin, Oyabin!" A young teenage girl with long blond hair, a white hoodie, cat ears, and wearing a giant bell on her back. She sprinted so fast that the wood began creaking.

"Hi Nekomata, this is my new friend Daubeny." Izuna introduced the girl, to which she bowed.

"It's an honor to meet a new friend of my master's," Neomata said gleefully.

The Gear raised a suspicious eyebrow at the wolfman, who crossed his two index fingers into an x. 

"It's not like! She just works for me!" 

Nekomata played with Izuna's hair while speaking to him during this distraction. 

"…Hmm? What did you say?" Izuna replied with lazy indifference.

"Oyabin wears a lot of things, such as charms and sword crossguards, don't you? Hey, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, I can't remember. I've worn these for as long as I can remember." 

"Hmm. Well, I wonder what it is then? Oh, this… this hairpin is cute!" Nekomata fidgeted and then pulled on the hairpin.

"Ouch! That hurts, don't pull on it!"

Little Nekomata's cheeks puffed out in anger, but she soon forgot about it.

"Oh, I know. Tell me a fun story like you always do!"

It was a tranquil night. Izuna's daily routine was to tell stories to his fellow yokai, and the yokai would listen attentively to them. Izuna turned to Daubeny asking. "Is that alright for you? Do you have time to listen to a story?"

"I'm in no hurry, so I don't see why not."

"I guess I could. Right. We can talk about that today. Let's see, we'll start at a leisurely pace then, shall we?"

"Myeah~! / Yeah!" After seeing Nekomata and Daubeny's faces break into broad smiles, Izuna calmly began to tell his story.

-

"It's an old story now, right? There was this couple. The husband was a boorish but serious, hardworking government official. The wife was also very kind and devoted to her husband. One day, the husband presented his wife with a beautiful wooden box. Then he told her that he was leaving on a mission. It was a dangerous job, and he might not be able to return."

"Eep! So sudden… Is this a sad story?" Nekomata questioned.

"Not really. Don't worry."

"…Really?" Daubeny asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Eh, now then, let's be patient until the end, alright?"

"…Mm-hm!"

"The wife asked her husband what his mission was. The husband's mission was to seal the nine "Killing Stones" scattered all over the country. The stones appeared when a certain yokai was exterminated. A high priest had smashed the stones before, and the pieces were scattered throughout the country." 

"The pieces then began to spread a poisonous mist around the area. The plants and trees in the area withered, and anyone who came close to them died from the deadly mist. It was said that the stones were spewing out the exterminated yokai's hatred." 

"Mmmm. Is that a bad sign?"

"But, if you attach a talisman given by the emperor to a killing stone and pierce it with a sword on which a sutra is written, the evil spirit will disappear…"

"…Oh, really~? And then what?" the catgirl said while shaping Izuna's hair into different shapes, the first of which was a mohawk.

"The husband came back with nine paper talismans and nine ornamental swords from the emperor. The wife thought, "If my husband goes off to war, he might not make it back alive. She did not want her husband to die."

"Mm, and then…?"

"After her husband went to bed that night, the wife took out the talismans and swords. Without them, her husband would not be able to go to war. Then, she thought, she should throw them away somewhere. It was a manifestation of her desire to save her husband and not to let him die."

"S-so what happened next, meow?" 

"The wife decided to throw them into a nearby lake. She rowed a small boat to the center of the lake and was about to throw away the cloth-wrapped talismans and swords when..."

Splash!

She slipped and fell into the lake!

"Meo-ahhhh!!!"

"Don't be so loud, Nekomata!" Daubeny reprimanded while dragging her out of the water by the scruff of her shirt.

"But, but, but, but-!" 

"What do you think? Don't you want to hear the rest?" Izuna asked slyly.

"I don't want a sad story… But I'm so curious~"

"Well, shall we continue? The wife sank into the lake with the bundle. The end."

"…What? That's it?" Daubeny asked, not entirely convinced.

"Mm, yeah."

"It was a sad story after all. Oi-chan's a liar~!"

"Just kidding, just kidding. The next day, when the husband woke up, his wife was waiting for him with breakfast ready."

"Huh? Huuuuuuhhhhh!!?? What, what, how?" The two listeners said in unison.

"The husband quietly finished his meal and began to prepare for departure. However, he could not find his swords and the important talismans. When he asked his wife about them, she replied that she didn't know."

"The earnest husband reported the situation to the emperor and asked for his judgment. The emperor did not say much but ordered him to wait until replacement talismans and swords could be prepared."

"Ahh, w-what the heck?"

"It was a few days after that. Reports of the disappearance of the poisonous mist came one after another from various places where the rocks were scattered."

"Nya, fur real!?"

"The result was so good that the husband was not blamed for losing the original swords and talismans, and he lived happily together with his wife for a long time. This time, it's over and done with… for real!"

"Happy ending? I feel cheated! …Why is the wife still alive?" Nekomata pouted disappointedly.

"Well, who knows? Maybe the old tales have no deep meaning. But if Nekomata-chan is a good girl, she might get to find out."

At the front of the pear stood an exhausted Slayer; he was tidying up his disheveled clothes, while Sharon stood there with a beaming smile as if she had just experienced the happiest moment of her life while carrying a small wooden box.

"Ohh!? I'll do my best!" Neokmata said determinedly.

Izuna rises up and bows to Daubeny, and walking past him. "I do hope you enjoyed your time here. Please visit again sometime, friend."

Daubeny followed soon after. "Sure, if I can find a way back here." 

As Daubeny reunited with Slayer and Sharon, Izuna remembered something: Slayer had taken the other two and the containers inside his cape, vanishing into nothing.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot to mention that inside the gifted wooden box was a venerable hairpin given to the husband by the emperor. It was shaped like an ear of rice, made hundreds of years ago. It just adds to the mystery…"

-

The probability of humans perceiving the existence of a "gate" connecting the Backyard and Earth is close to zero. This is because the appearance of a gate in this world is extremely rare; its range of appearance extends over the vast area of the entire universe, and the time befo it vanishes again is irregular. It is not something that can be found by searching for it.

Such an astronomically low encounter rate was coincidental for the wife on this occasion. On her way down to the depths of the deep, dark lake, the wife encountered such a gateway to the Backyard and was swallowed. Her body was unable to withstand the external pressure of the Backyard, which boasted a high density of compressed information, and she fizzled out and disappeared in mere seconds.

Gods, demons, humans, yokai, and all other forms of life in this world are born with their existence equally defined in the Backyard. Izuna was no exception to this rule.

Originally, tsukumogami and yokai are deified after having their souls in some form of the 8 million things that can exist in the world and after spending a hundred years or more with their shape fixed to their original form. Izuna, for example, is one of the tsukumogami that protect the island nation of Japan, which exists on the planet Earth in a certain galaxy. These phenomena are caused by rare irregularities that occur in the Backyard.

The "selection of possibilities" of the components of Izuna began to occur at a very early stage. At the stage when the approximate constituent elements had been determined, the noise was introduced into the "information that constituted Izuna while his form solidified," and a change occurred in the structure. This is because the "strong thought of the wife for her husband" that remained as information in the Backyard even after the loss of her body accidentally rewrote Izuna's structural information when the irregularity occurred.

The irregular structural transformation phenomenon consequently had a profound effect on the formation of Izuna's shape and personality. Izuna's soul was embodied in a gift the wife received from her husband before her death: a "hairpin shaped like an ear of rice."

-

Sharon

Izuna

Nekomata