Is it a hiragana or a kanji or something else entirely?


This is the description of the Japanese book 告白 by Kanae Minato. In the
picture, in red, are two instances of a character I suppose to be a hiragana.

But I have never seen it and can't find it anywhere on the internet.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JKC4S.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JKC4S.jpg)

Through context I think it might be a contracted form of ここ, but is there even
such a thing as contracting two hiragana in one? How do we call it so I can
find more info of that on the internet?

I will very much appreciate if you guys could enlighten me on the meaning of
it.




It's a cursive version of と like the one in the picture, but written more
stylistically

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/A7PEQ.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/A7PEQ.jpg)

