The Layers of Lies

Along with Miketsu's words, the young girl clutching the Koomote mask was suddenly overcome with agitation. Her entire body trembled as she slowly took a step back, her eyes avoiding Miketsu’s gaze. In her speech, she was desperately trying to deny everything Miketsu had just said. According to her, a pitch-black demon was the cause of it all.

"A pitch-black demon?" Miketsu asked with a slight frown as she watched the frantic girl before her.

"Yes! That's right! A pitch-black demon... she’s the one who killed everyone, Father included! She... she’s always been here, inside this mansion... she’s been watching me every single moment..." As she spoke, the girl constantly whipped her head around, searching her surroundings. Suddenly, she locked onto a specific spot. Looking through the doorway behind Miketsu, she pointed and shrieked.

"She’s right there! The black demon, she's there!"

Miketsu turned toward the direction the girl was pointing. There, standing just outside the open door, was indeed a black figure.

It was a girl with exactly the same build and appearance as the girl inside the room. However, her clothes were stained deep black, and her fair hands and feet seemed to have been blackened by some substance as well. On her head, she wore a ferocious, long-horned Hannya mask.

"When did she appear? And... she looks exactly the same..." Tsuruha couldn't help but remark as she saw the dark figure. Aside from the addition of the Hannya mask and the changed color scheme, the dark girl was an exact replica of the Hata young lady.

With a cry from the white-robed girl, the black figure behind the Hannya mask suddenly lunged, charging toward them. Tsuruha immediately spat out a burst of flame. While the fire didn't burn the dark girl, the intense heat was enough to slow her down.

Activating her causality vision, Miketsu lunged forward with her spirit spear. The spear-tip pierced through the dark girl, hoisting her out of the flames and pinning her firmly to the wall. This was immediately followed by a barrage of mantras pouring from the tip of the spear as Miketsu silently chanted, their power covering the dark girl's skin and suppressing her entirely.

In just an instant, Miketsu had neutralized the so-called "demon."

"Quick, finish her! She's the demon! She killed everyone!" the girl in white cried out urgently, pointing at the black girl bound by mantras on the wall. Yet, Miketsu ignored the plea. Instead, she silently turned her gaze back to the girl and spoke coldly.

"Enough... how many more lies do you intend to tell?"

"Lies? No, I'm not lying... everything I've said is true... I’m not lying!" Panic-stricken, the girl stumbled back a few steps. Seeing this, Miketsu raised one hand and held up three fingers.

"No, you are. Every word you've spoken has been part of a fabrication. From the beginning until now, you have layered your speech with three levels of lies." As she spoke, Miketsu lowered her first finger.

"The first layer was built using your demonic arts to deceive everyone in this manor. In this lie, everything was peaceful. This estate was normal. Your father went on a long journey, you waited at home patiently, your friends surrounded you, and the servants fulfilled their duties while the Onmyoji sent to investigate found nothing..."

The white-clad girl recoiled as if struck, her eyes widening. Miketsu retracted her second finger.

"The second layer was a backup created when the first lie was exposed, where you manipulated the masks of Hata no Kawakatsu to take the fall. In this lie, the masks slaughtered the clan, controlled everything, and were the ones who wove the first delusion. You, meanwhile, played the role of the innocent bystander, a helpless victim being used by them..."

The girl retreated until she hit the corner of the wall, clutching the mask in her arms even tighter. She hung her head, not daring to meet Miketsu’s eyes. Miketsu pulled down her last finger.

"The third layer... is this girl you call a demon, who looks exactly like you. Even after your previous lie was dismantled, you still refused to admit the truth. So, you fabricated this clumsy lie. Her appearance is simply the result of your refusal to face reality—a desperate tantrum."

Miketsu finished her declaration, but the girl in white still seemed unwilling to yield. She stood there shaking her head incessantly.

"No... I'm not lying! Who could such a clumsy lie deceive? No one would believe it... so I'm not lying..."

"Indeed, your lies are quite childish," Miketsu said, her voice stern and level as she looked at the girl who was still dodging her gaze. "But no matter how clumsy a lie is, as long as there is someone willing to believe it, it succeeds.

"Your lies weren't meant for me, or for anyone else. They were for you. You cannot accept what you have done, so you wove layer after layer of deception just to lie to yourself!"

Since peeling back the first layers of deceit, Miketsu had been wondering: why would the creature haunting this manor delude so many dead spirits into creating these false images? What could it possibly gain? While some yokai use illusions to lure prey, the Onmyoryo had sealed this estate for nearly a century; there was no prey to lure. Moreover, yokai that rely purely on trickery usually aren't powerful, which contradicted the immense strength felt in this estate. The realization had struck her the moment she saw the girl’s quarters and her mental state.

The person the girl wanted to deceive was herself. She could not bear the weight of her sins, and so she created these hallucinations to live within a comforting fiction.

In the first lie, everything was perfect—her most desired outcome where no tragedy had happened and everyone was alive.

When that was shattered, she immediately shifted to the second lie. Though tragedy had happened in that version, she wasn't to blame—it was all the masks' fault. She cast herself as another victim. This was why she believed Tsuruha immediately when told the masks were the killers, casting aside the "friends" she had just praised without a second thought.

When that second layer fell, she still refused the truth. Hysterical, she threw out a third lie, blaming a "black demon." But because deep down she always knew she was the root of the tragedy, her lie manifested as a creature that was essentially a reflection of herself.

"No... that's not it... it's not me... it wasn't me..."

Faced with Miketsu’s accusations, the girl trembled violently. She clamped her hands over her ears as if to shut out the words. The Koomote mask she had been holding tumbled to the floor. Watching this, Miketsu frowned.

'She's still running from the truth? Her spirit is fragile to a fault...'

In that moment, a massive surge of demonic energy erupted from the girl. An overwhelming pressure filled the room, and she began to lift off the ground, suspended in mid-air.

"It wasn't me... it wasn't me... I'm Father's most beloved daughter... I would never do such things... It’s you... you’re the one slandering me! It’s all your fault! If you weren’t here... if you weren’t here..."

As the girl muttered to herself, the seven masks that had been on the floor suddenly flew into the air. In a burst of demonic flame, the masks expanded rapidly. They formed a ring around her, facing inward, drifting like satellites. They no longer spoke.

"If you weren't here, everything I said would be the truth... So... die right here, Onmyoji!"

The girl snapped her head up, her gaze fixed on Miketsu with burning hatred. An immense column of demonic power shot into the sky, causing the entire ancient manor to shudder.

"So, you finally reveal yourself..."

The wind from the demonic aura billowed through Miketsu's hunting robe. She gripped the spirit spear tight, staring up at the girl centered between the seven masks.