It was only after those unpleasant few had vanished entirely from view that Kawakami Tomie turned her head back and tilted her face up to look at Amamiya Rin.
The overbearing flush of anger from moments ago had drained away without a trace, replaced by a radiant smile that mingled smugness with mischief, as if that little confrontation just now had been nothing more than an amusing bit of entertainment.
"So, Rin? How does it feel to have a hero rescue the damsel—me?"
She gave Amamiya Rin's arm a little shake, asking teasingly.
"If I hadn't shown up in time, you'd have gotten yourself tangled up with that ugly woman. The way she was looking at you—tsk, tsk, so blatant, really."
Watching Tomie's expression as she fished for praise, Amamiya Rin found that the vexation in his heart had eased somewhat.
He let out a sigh.
"You really were a big help. This place—it truly makes me very uncomfortable."
"It's not just uncomfortable, is it?"
Tomie's fingertip suddenly lifted, and through the thin layer of suit fabric, she tapped it against Amamiya Rin's chest, neither too lightly nor too hard.
Her gaze seemed profound in the dim light, the corners of her lips still curved in a smile—but the smile never reached her eyes.
(Kill—at some moment just now, you wanted to slaughter every single person here, didn't you?)
Because there were still people around, Tomie chose not to cause Amamiya Rin any trouble, and instead spoke with him through the [Tomie Network].
"My cultivation isn't yet complete."
Amamiya Rin said frankly.
His willpower was indeed as solid as bedrock, but that was largely something forcibly honed through resisting Tomie's allure.
The discipline of Dhyana was meant to sever attachments of lust and desire, to guard one's true heart, to see through the illusions of the mortal world; and the various strange ordeals and brushes with life and death he experienced day to day were also constantly tempering his state of mind.
But tonight, to glimpse so plainly the distortion and cruelty cloaked in the trappings of civilization—this was the first time.
It was not the plain malice of ghosts and curses, but people, living, breathing people, who frivolously objectified the suffering and lives of their own kind into playthings.
The shock this realization brought was different from all the strange and uncanny things he had fought against before.
"It's all right."
Kawakami Tomie took another step closer to Amamiya Rin, and the face she lifted up suddenly turned gentle and meek; the flamboyant cunning of moments ago quietly vanished, replaced by a kind of concern that was almost soothing.
(If you want to, then go ahead and do it. Why must you always suppress yourself?)
Her voice softened too, like silk brushing across the curve of an ear, carrying a bewitching cadence.
(Wipe out everyone here who offends your eyes, clear away all that you find intolerable, eliminate every single one who has wronged you... what could be wrong with that? They are the ones in the wrong—you would only be making the right and satisfying choice. Cultivation—isn't it precisely for the sake of attaining liberation, of achieving great freedom?)
"I know what I should be doing."
Amamiya Rin merely furrowed his brow, as though brushing aside a spiderweb.
Tomie's words, those whispers tempting him toward indulgence, fell upon his ears as nothing more than noise.
He practiced the White Skeleton Visualization, and had long grown accustomed to the filth beneath the flesh; he upheld right mindfulness, so that when deluded thoughts arose they were like reflections in a mirror—clear, yet untainted. At this moment, the faint killing intent that had risen in his heart at the ugliness of human nature also melted away without a trace, like boiling water poured onto snow.
Kill people? No—not kill people. Humans have only one layer of skin, and they don't fashion human hide into furniture. The only things he would kill were monsters, not people.
And only such monsters were worth killing.
But tonight was not yet the time.
"I can't stand to be in this place any longer. Let's go."
Amamiya Rin said indifferently.
"Eh—leaving already? We only just got here."
The smile on Tomie's face instantly collapsed, and she drew out her words, speaking coquettishly as if wheedling.
"No one chooses to keep lingering at a cesspit just because they haven't spent long there, or when they have no need to stay."
Amamiya Rin spoke very bluntly, and it drew a snorting laugh out of Tomie.
"I didn't expect you could say something so venomous. But still—we've come all this way, and gotten disgusted on top of it. We can't just slink off like this, can we? It'd feel like fleeing in defeat."
Tomie wrinkled her nose, then her eyes rolled, flashing with a sly light.
"So?"
Amamiya Rin looked at Tomie.
"Dance one dance with me? We came to a party—surely we can't leave without dancing? And besides, according to the plots of all those anime and light novels, after the male lead rescues the heroine at a party, doesn't he always share a dance with her?"
Tomie winked at Amamiya Rin, a hint of laughter slipping into her words.
"Even just as a way of repaying me, that wouldn't be too much to ask, would it?"
Tomie drew out her tone, and with a beaming smile she extended her hand, palm turned upward, making a gesture of invitation.
She pointed toward the small dance floor that had already lit up in the center of the living room, where several couples were swaying gently to the mellow jazz.
Amamiya Rin glanced at the dance floor, then at the undisguised anticipation in Tomie's eyes, and a wry smile surfaced on his face.
"Even though... but... all right. It really isn't too much to ask."
Wouldn't refusing Tomie be the thing that was too much?
In this situation, Amamiya Rin discovered that he still could not refuse Tomie.
"Just one song, and then we leave."
"Yay!"
Tomie immediately smiled, and that smile was bright and lovely, carrying a pure joy that seemed somehow genuine, giving an impression of innocence—so that for a fleeting instant it almost seemed she was nothing more than an ordinary girl, brimming with happiness, inviting the one she admired.
Amamiya Rin was dazed for a moment, and by the time he came back to himself, his hand had already been taken by Tomie's warm, soft one.
Tomie led Amamiya Rin toward the now-cleared dance floor, and the band, right on cue, switched to a mellow dance tune.
Tomie turned naturally, one hand clasping his, the other resting lightly just below his shoulder.
Somewhat unpracticed, Amamiya Rin held her waist, and through the thin, light gown he could feel the warmth of the skin beneath the fabric and the delicate line of her waist.
He had never learned to dance, but Tomie had; in the Dream World, her memories and her bodily sensations had been shared with Amamiya Rin too.
As the music rose, the figures of Amamiya Rin and Tomie began to move in unison with the melody.
Though their steps were a little stiff at first, the two of them swayed slowly with the music, their footwork shifting from clumsy to gradually coordinated, and their rigid bodies slowly relaxed.
The light on the dance floor was hazy, and all around were swaying silhouettes and murmuring voices, but in this moment, those eerie furnishings and the scheming guests all seemed, for a while, to be shut out and away.
"See, isn't this rather nice?"
Tomie's voice was pitched very low, carrying a touch of laughter, her breath brushing past Amamiya Rin's ear.
"Mm."
Amamiya Rin gave a quiet reply.
He lowered his head, and could see Tomie's thick lashes and the upturned tip of her nose.
It was undeniable—at this moment, Tomie had reined in that deliberately flaunted demonic quality, and looked... a great deal more agreeable.
The time of a single dance passed quickly.
As the music drew to a close, Tomie led Amamiya Rin through a simple turn, then came to a stop.
She let go of his hand and stepped half a pace back, a flush that had not yet faded and a smile still on her face, her eyes bright as she looked at him.
"Let's go. I've had my fill of this dump—it's time to go home."
Amamiya Rin nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the guests still immersed in their own pleasures, and hand in hand with Tomie, he left this bizarre, kaleidoscopic dance floor and headed toward the entrance.
____
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