Pygmalion Is Planting Seeds V1, Chapter 4
When Kanade opened the iron door, a young man wearing a black denim and ’Dangle’ shirt [note]Like a hokey t-shirt [/note] entered the room.
Looking to be in his twenties with light brown hair, an unshaven face and an expression of aloofness, his image overlapped with Haruhito’s in my mind.
“Hmm? Did I interrupt something here?”
“Yes, you’re always in the way. What do you need?” Erisa spoke back.
“Greetings there, I just had a hard time bringing you some goods, without borrowing any help from the Mogura, ye’ know? How about ye’ thanking me at least?”
The man was grasping a long case by the handle.
“I’m not interested in some junk like the one you brought to me last time.”
“Don’t be like that now. This time, I brought the real thing. Fresh quality goods.”
On opening the case, a raw, sour, stinky smell struck my nose. Stored inside was a girl’s body split into pieces. Bloody traces stretched out from the cut sections, and her long hair was hiding her face. [Admin: I was eating…]
“She’s a runaway girl. Unfortunately, there was no information about her. I don’t know her name nor her age. But hey, I found a sanitary napkin along with her, so it’s fine right?”
“Oh my, you’re a brute wearing human skin, aren’t you? Well, at least it’s better than a suicide corpse you could pick from an abandoned building. The insides seem to be safe this time at least.”
Erisa leaned over the corpse and grabbed one of its slender, white arm”
“Her condition appears to be fine. Although, I’d prefer if you extracted more blood next time.”
Like a restaurant chef, checking the quality of the market vegetables, Erisa inspected every single piece of the dead girl and brought her nose closer to it. I was about to lose control of my legs, seeing this unusually cruel scene in front of my eyes.
“By the way, who’s that boy over there?”
The man pointed at me who was standing still like a good-for-nothing pillar.
“The same as you, someone who’s looking for seeds. He’s a pretty brave boy, who was searching for me at this time of night, for the sake of his beloved.”
“Wha-!?”
My heart leaped up after she guessed my crush for Misaki. [Proofreader: …]
“You thought I wouldn’t know? It was too obvious; a woman is very sensitive to a man’s glances, especially those that are holding a yearning towards them. Women who don’t recognize such a glance are even scarcer than a protected species, you know?”
Hearing Erisa’s unconcerned words, I started thinking of the possibility that Misaki had realized my feelings and my head suddenly got hotter.
“To top it off, he’s trying to revive her, knowing that she already has a boyfriend. Honestly, I was touched by his pure conduct and decided to give him the seed for free this time.”
“Hey, c‘mon, that’s not fair~ It was a bloodbath trying to dismantle the corpse here. Aren’t ye’ gonna acknowledge my efforts at least?”
Said the man that in a dissatisfied manner.
“I can see you getting all spoiled if I do that. And either way, you are seeking seeds too much. Rather than a service, I’m thinking about charging you additional fees this time.”
“As always, a cute face and a harsh personality. Just like a rose with steel thorns”
“I will accept your words as a compliment. The fact of being a rose doesn’t change after all.”
Erisa lightly parried the man’s sarcastic words, fetched a small box from the vault and passed it to him.
“I’m fine dealing with you like this, but these seeds are very rare. Don’t go wasting them.”
“I know, I know…”
“You’re in a good mood as usual, aren’t you? I’m busy right now, if you don’t have anything else to say, I’d like you to leave.”
“How cold of you. Guess I’m done over here, well then!”
Holding the box in his hands, the man left the room with a satisfied face. In the room, only I, Erisa, Kanade, and the blood covered marionette without strings, was left.
“Who was that?”
“An upstart acting all tough. He’s a nasty man. I feel sorry for the flowers he raises.”
Erisa said these words as though, she was spitting them out. However, her facial expression remained cold, not a change in the slightest.
Despite being in this shop for only a short time, I already understood that Erisa doesn’t show very many emotions or facial expressions, giving me the impression, that she’s a bisque doll imitating a human’s behavior. Somehow, I can’t imagine her face getting all red from anger or see her clapping her hands, while roaring with laughter.
Erisa closed the case and called for Kanade.
“Take care of this after planting the seed in Iruse Misaki’s head. retrieve the ovaries, cut the meat and store it in the refrigerator.”
“What should I do about the fingers? There are still many of them we haven’t used yet.”
“Throw them away if there are too many.” [Admin: So wasteful <.<] [Proofreader: I don’t know how I feel about this] [Admin: lol]
“Understood, Milady.”
While serving up the dish on a plate, Kanade answered with a broad smile. She wasn’t disturbed at all by seeing a corpse in front of her eyes. The same face she made when delivering up Misaki’s head, looking like a waitress serving us afternoon tea. It was evident that she was used to dealing with corpses in her daily life.
“What do you mean by taking care of it?” [Admin: This dumb a**… excuse my language, but seriously?]
“Peeling off the skin, removing the fat and separating the meat from the bones. That’s all.”
“I didn’t ask you about your crafting skills. Why are you doing with that in the first place?”
“To make it edible of course for… me.”[Proofreader: No you didn’t read wrong]
A plate of steak along with sauce was put in front of Erisa. The side options are asparagus and carrots. The slight smoke being raised from the plate reached my nose as a sweet smell.
“Excuse me, I’m starving.”
In an elegant manner, Erisa carried the meat to her mouth. While chewing, her lips were wiggling the steak and I was absent-mindedly gazing at her white neck where her faint throat swallowed the bite.
[Admin: … Didn’t she just say she ate them? SHE ATE YOUR MISAKI!! Why are you looking her like that?] [Proofreader: I like to tell myself that her body was so crushed, she couldn’t eat her.]
“I’d like you to stop staring at me when I’m eating. It’s embarrassing.”
Erisa’s hands stopped moving because of my unreserved glance.
“What kind of meat… are you eating now?”
“The abdomen of a medium built man. A simple medium rare grilled steak with salt and pepper as a seasoning. Not grilling it too much gives it a uniquely delicious taste”
The pure-hearted girl was boldly explaining to me a human cooking recipe.
Behind her, the young maid was drilling a hole in Misaki’s head while smiling. [Proofreader: These are clear signs to GTFO, why are you still here?] [Admin: I think we established he’s weird along with stupid. Let’s stop before the readers get annoyed.]
“I’m not sure why are you doing that, but eating human flesh is…you know…not-”
“Are you going to tell me that it is wrong to do so?” Erisa asked me after drinking the mineral water filled in a glass cup. “Then explain to me why is it wrong?”
“Well, that’s because…..yeah, the law…” [Admin: I’m sorry, but what?.. That’s what you’re worried about? *cough* Back to being silent.]
“There’s no act that prohibits the consuming of human flesh in this country.”
Erisa crushed down my likely answer.
“It is indeed quite impossible to obtain human flesh without violating the law of killing a person and damaging their body, however, eating human flesh, in itself, is not prohibited by law. There are some other countries which banned the act of eating human flesh, but those kind of laws that were taken.
from their own morals are not enough to restrain the desire of some people who want to eat it.”
“But instead of human flesh, there are plenty of other kinds of meat, like beef or pork?”
“There is a significance in eating human flesh.”
Erisa wiped off the sauce left in her mouth with a napkin.
“It is true that eating human flesh is considered as the greatest taboo for humanity. However, no basic explanation of the reason could be found. You must not hurt a person, you must not steal things that don’t belong to you, you must not lie. People repeatedly learn about these sorts of taboos from their teachers and parents in their childhood, but no one taught them that eating human flesh is wrong. By getting rebuked for committing an error, the person understands that what they did was wrong and throughout their days, they discover society’s norms and standards. By getting scolded for it, a strong negative impression is scorched into their hearts, and so, the next time, they behave without repeating the same mistake. However, there is no procedure used against the deed of eating human meat. In the end, you can’t find a book explaining how to deal with a child who ate his friend’s flesh.”
That’s true, if a teacher found out a kindergarten kid eating his friend, he would just be stunned instead of scolding him.
“By following the question of why it is wrong to eat human flesh, we will just run into another problem like, ‘is it good or bad to eat the flesh of living beings despite being able to live by eating plants’”. If we are going to consider it as a bad deed, then we can also just call those who eat bears or weasels as evil. To sum all of this up, it is adiaphora, a question without answer”
Erisa put down her knife and fork.
“If killing people and eating their flesh wasn’t a taboo, everyone would probably start to kill in order to eat. After all, humans are an existence that prefers to take the easiest choices”[Proofreader: This logic!]
The empty tableware was removed, and Misaki’s head, which was put into a small pot, was placed inside. Her face was slightly visible within the wood chips. A thirty centimeter hole was drilled at the top of her head. I felt both sad and relieved at seeing her resting face.
“I’m going to have you carry back the pot with you. I wouldn’t mind raising it until it takes a human shape, but doing that by your own hands from the beginning will spring up attachment between you and it, wouldn’t it?”
“But wait, how am I supposed to do that? should I just give her water?”
“It grows by drinking blood. But not as much as you think. Just scratch a fingertip and dribble a few drops a day. When she develops a face, you can make her suck on your fingers. There are some people who’re addicted to this kind of stimulation, you know?”
“And how much should I give her?”
“Only a small amount is enough. An amount much lower than what you give in a blood donation.”
“Is that the risk you told me about earlier?”
“No way.”
“Then what are the risks to this?”
“Slowly, but surely, you will realize it. Soon enough.”
“Mr. Mamesaki, here..”
Kanade handed me a small army knife.
“I’m giving that to you. When you don’t feel like seeing her face anymore, don’t think about reclaiming her. The roots will suck up the moisture and start growing everywhere.”
I got chills just just by imagining a few roots growing out from her eyes and mouth. I’d do anything to avoid seeing Misaki in such a condition.
“I will be escorting him out now. I’m leaving the rest to you.”
“Understood. Farewell, Mr. Mamesaki”
By the time I got into the car again, the rain had already stopped falling. On our way back, the road was full of puddles and the tires were splashing water while moving. With the car pushing its way in the darkness, we leisurely aimed for the district where I live.
“A displeased deed by the Pygmalion.”
Erisa’s sudden words broke the silence.
“Who?”
“A Greek myth about a sculptor. A miserable man who fell in love with his sculpture, and wished for it to turn into a human. In his case, that wish was granted, out of sympathy by Aphrodite. But you’d better understand that a goddess’s mood wouldn’t change for everyone who prays for it.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Realize your stature, and don’t desire too much. That’s the meaning.”
While I was trying to understand Erisa’s strange words, the car halted at the entrance of the flower quarter. The light from the lined up night stores, had already disappeared and the district had fallen into a peaceful silence. It didn’t take even ten minutes for us to arrive.
“Well then, we shall meet again”
Erisa went back, leaving a short salute behind.
Without having the composure to see her off, I ran towards a light pole by the roadside and started vomiting. By the time I finished disgorging everything in my stomach, I did not realize that she purposely obscured a very important bit of information from me. [Proofreader: Like how she knows where you live?]
