Phenomeno:Case 09

Case 09: Dear Nostradamus-sama

“Have you ever been on a date?”

It was on a sunny Sunday afternoon around the end of November. I had gotten up early, taken a shower, tidied myself up properly, changed into a clean pair of shirt and jeans, and after wallowing in indecision, finally broke the ice.

“A date is, well, going out somewhere alone with the opposite sex.”

I elaborated further in a somewhat restless tone, and Yoishi, who was doing something in the loft, looked down at me and spoke nonchalantly without expression, “I have”, leaving me flabbergasted.

“Huh…? Y-you have? Ah, I guess that’s right… You’re a high school girl after all. I mean, you might have even had a boyfriend or two in the past, but – it’s somewhat unexpected, no, sorry. Anyway, uhhh…”

Flustered and incoherent, Yoishi pointed her long index finger towards me, Koumei university institute first year, Yamada Nagito, who had just turned nineteen the other day.

“I’m always going places with you.”

“You idiot, those are creepy haunted spots! And what’s more, that’s definitely not something you’d call an exciting date!”

“I don’t know about it being exciting, but –”

After gazing at me with her large eyes, she muttered briefly.

“I had fun.”

My heart suddenly started pounding for some reason. I felt a heat around my solar plexus, where it began to squirm and writhe.

“No, ummm… It’s not like I didn’t have fun as well, and to be precise, there were some places where I was looking for a moderate amount of scariness – but anyway, what I'm talking about is a little different from that.”

--Why am I in such a panic?

I coughed once to clear my throat, and forced myself to return to the topic at hand.

“Anyway, let’s try going on a date.”

“…A date.”

“That’s right. The weather is nice, so you and I should go to somewhere, let’s hang out someplace fun for no reason in particular, somewhere that’s not a haunted place. I mean, it’s coincidentally my day off today, and I just got my salary; I can’t take you anywhere too expensive, but eating out or watching a movie is fine.”

‘How about it?’, I ask her again; Yoishi pondered for a while before giving a single nod and withdrawing to the loft. She seemed to be changing her clothes from the spare jersey I gave her which she’d been wearing at home recently. Eventually she came down from the loft dressed in her usual black blazer from the Koumei high school.

“You’re gonna go dressed like that?”

Yoishi nodded once.

“…You need to buy some clothes, too.”

“I’m fine with this.”

With a blunt reply, she stood up and left the apartment ahead of me.

---

Ah man, how long had it been since I’d been on a date?

I guess the last time was when I had a girlfriend in high school. No, if you were to include that time I went shopping with the girl I was friends with, then it’s a little more after that. Come to think of it, Christmas is just around the corner. Christmas, isn’t it a big occasion for lovers, or couples who will soon become lovers? I mean, I don’t mean to say that the two of us are headed in that direction, however, if by some chance that should happen, since it’s Yoishi, she would probably continue to live shamelessly with me in my loft. And then to picture the two of us wearing Christmas hats and ringing crackers in front of the cake...but—

…Oh wow, we don’t look good together at all.

With my thoughts swirling on such matters, I became completely quiet. Of course Yoishi wasn’t the talkative type to begin with, so we walked around town looking like we had come back from a funeral.

“Let’s watch a movie.”

I suggested as such, Yoishi nodded and followed me in silence.

We barely spoke to each other in the theater, and after we finished watching the movie I commented, ‘That was entertaining, wasn’t it?’, to which Yoishi merely gave a small nod in acknowledgment. After that I suggested we drink some coffee and went around to a famous coffee shop, but the vicinity of Kichijouji station was packed to the brim on a Sunday, and we couldn’t get in because there was a long line of customers waiting outside.

“It’s crazy how many people are here.”

Saying that kind of silly line, I turned back to see Yoishi looking deathly pale as she staggered along.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“…People.”

“People…? What about them?”

“People, people, people - vasovagal reflex.”

I didn’t understand well but, it seemed she was suffering a severe bout of dizziness from being in a crowd. Come to think of it, she seemed to be able to see the malice of humans as well as ghosts. And if she was exposed to a certain amount, she’d end up inverting it as a vomiting phenomenon. In other words, walking in the midst of this many people, she might start vomiting all of a sudden. Realizing that, I panicked, and started looking for the entrance to a restaurant we could enter.

Thankfully, we found a seat by the window that had just opened up on the second floor of a fast-food restaurant, I sat down as if clinging on to it, and sat Yoishi there.

“Are you alright?”

“…Ugh.”

“Don’t throw up in here, alright? The toilet’s right over there.”

“…Understood.”

I crossed my arms over the table and stared with a sigh at Yoishi as she lay collapsed on top of it, I then stood up from my seat to buy a drink for the time being.

The restaurant was so crowded on Sunday afternoon that it was a miracle that we were able to get a seat at all. Families with children, happy-looking couples, groups of excited girls. Anyway, the brightly lit restaurant with seating for around 70 or so people was filled to capacity, and everyone was truly enjoying their Sunday afternoon.

It definitely seemed a bit noisy, and it was difficult to carry a conversation without raising one’s voice in this situation -- but I wouldn’t say it was excessive. It would be best to wait here for a while until Yoishi recovered. At any rate, I ordered ice coffee, orange juice and apple pie for the both of us and climbed the stairs to return to my seat on the second floor.

However, when I reached the second floor, I saw Yoishi rise from her seat as she suddenly caught sight of something.

--What the heck is she doing?

As I held the tray and stare at the scene, Yoishi dizzily walks off somewhere. Her gaze was fixed at one point somewhere, shining brightly as if to suggest she had found something unbelievable. Of course, having walked the depths of the world beyond with her up to this point, I had a dreadful premonition. There was no way a ghost disturbance could happen in a fast-food restaurant on such a peaceful Sunday afternoon – but it’s Yoishi we’re talking about here. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for anything to happen.

Yoishi kept walking towards somewhere, and eventually bumped into a table with a thud. The three high school boys sitting there went silent all at once. All three had their mouths gaped open halfway as they stared at Yoishi. However, what flummoxed them was not her actions, but rather, her beautiful features.

“Wow, you’re so cute.”

“Why are you wearing a uniform on a Sunday?”

“Are you alone?”

They call out to her one after another in a casual tone of voice.

“That uniform is from the Koumei institute? It’s a private school, right? We’re second years in a government school, but how about you? What year are you?”

The guys who had outrageous hair styles like the main characters of an RPG game continued throwing questions at Yoishi without a care. Ugh, I let out an exasperated groan. They say you can't judge people by their appearances, but you can almost always judge a high school student of this age by their looks. They are probably the so-called "playboys" whose heads are full of this and that of the opposite sex.

“Say, you wanna go to Karaoke?”

The guy in the back, who had his collars opened up way more than necessary to flaunt off his silver necklace called out to her; I decided to move her away and was about to head over to the seat, when—

“…..Ug…”

“….Huh?”

“…Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrgghhhh!”

Yoishi sparked all of a sudden. With an imposing stance, she vigorously spewed vomit and excrement containing a mixture of glistening gastric juice and whatever soft drink she had drunk this morning right down on their table.

“Aaaaaaggghhhhhhhh!”

The three of them shouted out as the surrounding clamor quieted down at the same time.

--Oh man, she’s done it now.

I reflexively looked up to the heavens, but it was already too late. The three high schoolers cowered and froze for a moment in front of the half-eaten French Fries covered in Yoishi’s vomit and excrement before immediately scrambling and stumbling their way out of the restaurant.

In the deathly silence of the restaurant, I moved without saying a word. I placed the tray on our seat, grabbed some napkins, and approached Yoishi, who stood stock still.

“Are you alright?”

I wiped the area around Yoishi’s mouth, but she was still staring off somewhere. Sadly, I had already gotten used to the sour smell. I borrowed a table cloth from the employee who had rushed over and skillfully wiped the spilled stomach juices and former soft drink when I came to a realization, ‘Ah, so that’s why’.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the age group of the three guys just now, was, in a sense, a mass of sexual desire. Yoishi must have been bathed in the malice aroused by the sexual desire to take a beautiful girl out somewhere, to do this and that to her and to be happy. I was convinced that that burst the dam of the vomiting phenomenon Yoishi had been holding back – but apparently, that was not the case.

“That girl…”

Eventually, Yoishi weakly pointed somewhere.

She pointed to a girl, still in her upper elementary school years, sitting alone in a four-seater in a corner by the wall.

“That girl? What about her?”

“She has no head.”

“…Huh?”

I looked again at the girl who looked like an elementary school student.

…No, she looks completely normal to me. It’s sounds obvious to say it, but there’s no way a person can exist without a head.

“The girl you’re talking about is the one sitting in the corner seat over there, right? The one wearing a red skirt, white shirt and colorful sneakers, the one who looks a little mature.”

Nodding in agreement, Yoishi gazes at the girl once again – but eventually gives a small shake of the head.

“I can’t see it.”

“….”

Now it was my turn to sink into silence. I turn to gaze at the girl once again, but regardless, she still had a head. I guess they were called ponytails, her long hair was tied at both sides of head, and beneath that was the cute face of a would-be beauty in the near future. She looked cheery as she jotted down something spread out on her desk.

“Are you… feeling alright? Have your eyes gone bad or something?”

Yoishi staggered off once more when asked.

She went straight to the girl's seat and sat down across the table without saying a word.

‘Whoa, wait a second’, I thought to myself – but the school girl smiled cordially and greeted Yoishi. She was diligently writing on something laid out on her desk, and said something like, “Be right with you in a minute.”

Reluctantly, I headed towards the seat and watched the girl from behind Yoishi.

The girl in the elegant white shirt had countless pictures spread out on the table. Seeing them one by one made me feel cold somehow. All of them had some kind of unpleasant composition.

As I was thinking such things—

“This one is about a thousand yen.”

The girl happily jotted down something on the back of one of the pictures.

“This one is five thousand yen.”

She continued to write what seemed to be a price on the back of another picture. After she finished, she gathered the photos together in a shuffle, then looked at Yoishi, then me, and smiled with a grin.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Are you the Aizawa-san that sent me a mail?”

“Uh, no… we’re…”

I replied, not knowing what to say; The girl pointed at the seat next to Yoishi.

“It’s fine, have a seat. I’m used to people not using their real names. Which one do you like?”

It seemed the girl had mistaken us for someone else. After taking a glance at Yoishi, who still had her gaze fixed at the girl’s head, I sat down next to her for the time being.

“I have many pictures, all high quality. You see, it’s my policy to sell only authentic ghost photography.”

I kind of got the gist of things with that statement. She seemed to be an elementary school girl who was meeting customers through the internet or something in order to sell them ghost photos.

“Well then, please choose at your own leisure.”

Saying that, she spread the photos once more, and sure enough, they all had an unpleasant air about them.

There was one with several men and women smiling. One picture of a couple with the sea in the background. Another one with an old man looking at the camera while standing in front of an old dilapidated house. The subjects have black lines plastered over their eyes, possibly because they are missing something, or because they’re superfluous. Arms were completely missing in the middle, or conversely, another person's head was peeking out from the back of the neck. There were pictures with countless white balls of light -- or what were known as orbs.

But Yoishi took one mere glance at them and spoke:

“They're all common phenomena that occur with digital cameras. If you were to move your arm at the moment the photo was taken, it can look like it disappeared. This peeking head is an exposure problem, and these white lights are merely due to a smudge on the lens.”

The girl smiled happily in reply. “You know a lot, onee-san.”

“Sorry. The real thing – it’s only worth showing to those who know the value of it.”

The girl once again took a photo out of her bag, it was bizarre at first glance.

It was set in a rural landscape somewhere. A photograph of five men taken around the entrance to the mountain. Their faces were not obscured by black lines. And, the face of the second man from the left was… stretched as long as a horse. It was stretched out from the top as if it had been twisted by pliers – and yet, he had a broad grin.

“Of course, This person wasn’t deformed or anything, and he normally didn’t look like this. For some reason, only this picture was taken this way. However, a few days after this picture was taken, he died.”

“…”

Yoishi held the picture up, and gazed intently at it.

“Any others?”

“How about this one?”

The next photo she took out was taken in the living room of an old house. It was a tatami room with a table, a sunken hearth, and a chest of drawers. It wasn’t a very large room, but there was a red line running straight down the center of the room. It felt creepy, like blood was dripping down from the ceiling.

“Hmm…”

Yoishi pondered as she gazed at that picture, however, the fact that she wasn’t calling them out as fake creeped me out. I averted my eyes trying not to look at those incomprehensible photos.

“Is this one not to your liking either, Onee-san? you seem to be looking for something hardcore. All right, all right. Then, I’ll have to bring out the ace up my sleeve. However, it's best to be careful with this one."

...Hey, don't tell me there’s still more. As I unconsciously stood up a little, the girl takes out a study notebook from her bag, and from its pages, she takes out another photo wrapped in some kind of thin paraffin paper.

"This is a picture we all took when we played ‘Dear Nos.’"

"Dear Nos?"

"Ah, by ‘Dear Nos’, I mean Kokkuri-san. You summon ‘Dear-Nostradamus-sama’ in the beginning, so it’s shortened to that.”

The girl explained cheerfully, however -- "Kokkuri-san is that, right? A pseudo- séance that occult enthusiasts say should not be performed because It’s commonly known that Kokkuri-san rarely appears in actuality, it instead invokes low-grade spirits that wander around the area and cause hauntings. There were various versions of the name, such as ‘Angel-sama’ or ‘Cupid-sama,’ depending on the region, but the pattern of writing ‘letters,’ ‘numbers,’ ‘yes/no,’ and drawing a "torii" on a piece of paper, placing a coin on top of it, and asking questions was the same, I thought, but--

But, was it called ‘Dear Nos’ or something among the elementary school kids of today?

"By Nostradamus-sama, do you mean Dr. Michel de Notre Dame?"

Yoishi inquired, ‘As expected’, the girl smiled once more.

"But it's different. It's not that fortune teller from the past. Well, that person wasn't originally a fortune teller either, but—calling him Nostradamus-sama makes everyone believe him. Elementary school students really are gullible, after all.”

Aren't you an elementary school kid yourself? As my inner voice retorted unconsciously, I saw the picture, and at that moment -- an unpleasant shiver rose from beneath my feet.

It was set in a dimly-lit classroom at sunset. Amidst the rows of desks, a group of girls in their upper elementary school years were facing us. They were probably classmates of the pony-tailed girl in front of me. However, two of the girls had lost their eyes, while the remaining two had twisted, blurred faces. And -- what was it? Something resembling a black mist floated in the air above their heads. As I began to ponder on the black stain, the warning bells began to ring violently inside me with a loud riiiiiiiiiiing. I averted my eyes immediately. Don't think about it-- Don't notice it. This wasn’t that kind of thing.

"How was this taken?" Yoishi asked.

"I was the one who took it. It's because I can sense the type of places ghosts are at."

The girl gave an innocent smile.

"Kokkuri-san – you probably know that it's generally a game of low-class ghosts, but the thing that that manifested at that time, was something else. I still don't quite know what it was back then. Some of the girls I did this with are still absent from school.”

Yoishi remained silent, but I couldn't bear it anymore and asked:

“And you’re okay?”

“I was scared at first, but being afraid doesn’t change anything – and don’t you think just being afraid is a loss? I know when there’s something there. I can aim my camera there. So rather than staying afraid all the time, it would be better to swap the fear for a little money, right?”

“…”

“Say, won’t you buy it? I’ll give it you for just 10,000 yen, onee-san.”

Who would buy such a thing? As I thought that, Yoishi readily nodded, took out a ten thousand yen note from her purse and placed it on top of the table.

“You know when something is there, don’t you?”

“…Eh?”

“So, have you noticed the thing next to you?”

I was immediately startled by her words.

The girl was alone, of course. There was no one next to her.

I rose up involuntarily, pushing back the chair behind me which fell down with a thud. I turned around to pick it back up again, only to see that numerous customers were staring at me. A look of alarm, as if to say, ‘What are the guys who just caused a vomiting ruckus up to now?’

“I see – Onee-san is a person who can see.”

However, regardless of me, the two denpa girls continued their conversation.

“You can only feel them?”

“Yes. I know they’re there, but I can’t see them. What kind of person are they?”

“Their eyes are dark. I think it’s a woman. She's moving her slender hands constantly, fiddling with something.”

I found it unbearable to keep up with their conversation any longer, so I stood up and returned to my previous seat. I put the drinks I had left on the tray – and took a deep breath.

--Ugh, today was supposed to be a date. And yet, why did things turn out like this? It’s a Sunday for most people. A peaceful holiday where the sun is still out, shining warmly, just before the full-blown winter season. I went out in the morning, thinking we should do something fun once in a while, but before I’d realized, my daily life had lurched into occult territory once more. Was this my fault? Did I make some fatal mistake somewhere?

I looked at the seats of Yoishi and the girl, lamenting the absurdity of not knowing who to blame for such a situation, but the girl selling ghost photos was still staring at Yoishi’s face with her lips tightly-knit.

Yoishi, too, stared at the girl’s face, but her gaze barely moved at all, perhaps it was because she still couldn’t see the girl’s face. But – just what the hell did that mean? No matter where I looked from, I could see her face like normal. However, Yoishi, who could see things that were better left unseen, couldn’t see the girl’s face. Yoishi wasn’t the type of person who would lie, so I guess it was true, but – I had no idea what it meant.

Shaking my head, I had no choice but to return to the seat with Yoishi, the pony tailed girl, and the woman with no eyes I couldn’t see.

“Say, won’t you help me?”

The girl asked Yoishi as her voice trailed off.

“Onee-san, you know how to drive this thing away, don’t you?”

The girl who displayed a proud demeanor was there no longer, in her stead, was someone who was scared, as expected for a girl her age. Confused by the complete change, I looked towards Yoishi. However, she was still squinting in the direction of the girl’s face. Why couldn’t she see it? What was this phenomenon? It was like I was a philosopher, struggling with one of life's most difficult questions.

“Onee-san, tell me. What is this? Why is it haunting me? Is it because of this thing that I can tell when a ghost is there?”

“…Who knows?”

Yoishi finally looked away from the girl, and focused her eyes on the ten thousand yen note placed on the table. The movement of her gaze made the girl take notice of the money once more, and she moved to grab it, but – for some reason, Yoishi prevented her from doing so by placing her index finger on the ten thousand yen note.

“If you really want me to drive it away, it’ll cost you fifty thousand yen.”

…Whoa, whoa.

Her remarks made me drop my jaw.

The girl seemed sit stunned for a while, before eventually slipping out a giggle.

“I’m no match for you, onee-san.”

Her expression returned to mature one she had earlier, and spoke:

“Not this time. I'm not really bothered if there's someone next to me, and thanks to that, I can make some extra money.”

Saying that, she picked up the ten thousand yen note from the table, and held out the ‘Dear Nostradamus-sama’ picture in exchange.

“But you’d better be careful, because I think this is really dangerous. if possible, exorcise it properly, or burn it – Ah, maybe you don’t need to worry about such things, onee-san.”

Declaring that, she said, ‘Well, see you’, stuffed the remaining ghost photographs back into her bag, picked up her drink and left. I kept sight of the small girl from behind until she disappeared from sight, and then asked Yoishi, trying my best not to look at the seat next to the girl – in short, the seat where Yoishi had said a woman was.

“Don’t try to extort money from elementary school kids.”

“Why? She was the one trying to peddle ghost photographs to me.”

“Yeah, but fifty thousand yen is too much.”

“I think it’s cheap for a proper exorcism.”

…Well, I guess that might be true. In the first place, I’ve never paid for any exorcisms from my own pocket, and I had no idea how much Krishna-san, the manager of one of Japan's largest occult websites, ‘Ikaigabuchi,’ paid her investigators, or spiritual experts, for their services.

“So, you’ve done exorcisms before, huh?”

Yoishi gave a small shake of the head.

“…Huh? You were gonna charge her fifty thousand yen even though you can’t do it?”

“What happens to her is none of my concern.”

Saying that, Yoishi stood up unsteadily with the ghost photo in her hand.

“Once you have peered into the ‘abyss’, there is no salvation for you.”

“By ‘abyss’, you mean the world beyond? Wasn’t that the dream mansion for me? But you saved me back then.”

I spoke to the figure that was about to head somewhere, and Yoishi turned to look back.

“You were—”

“Wasn’t the girl really in trouble? She looked like she was about to cry when you told her there was someone besides her, right? She might have had a somewhat cheeky way of speaking, but she's still just in elementary school. Sure, she might be a little eccentric to be peddling ghost photos, but isn’t it natural to lend someone a helping hand if they’re in trouble right before your very eyes?”

Yoishi took a sigh in exasperation in response and spoke:

“You really are such a nice person, after all.”

“What are you on about?”

“There are those in this world you just can’t save, no matter how hard you try.”

“Then, why did you suggest an exorcism?”

Yoishi turned her back to me and spoke:

“I only wanted to confirm it.”

“Confirm what?”

“Confirm whether or not she truly wanted to be rid of it.”

Saying that, Yoishi took the ghost photo in hand to the smoking area separated by a glass window. The smokers inside were all aghast as soon as the uniformed high school girl brazenly walked in – she quickly said something to one of the guys inside, borrowed a lighter, and started burning the picture on the ashtray.

--Ugh… She just paid 10,000 yen for that picture.

I watched the scene in a daze, but when I asked Yoishi after she eventually returned to her seat, she simply replied:

“It wasn’t a good thing to have.”

---

That night, I lay in my futon in the dark room, unable to sleep as I was tossed around by my conflicting doubts.

My thoughts swirled around the ‘abyss’ as Yoishi had called it.

『Once you have peered into the ‘abyss’, there is no salvation for you.』

If I recall correctly, she had said something similar back in the abandoned hospital incident. I had presumed that the ‘abyss’ she mentioned referred to the world beyond -- but that didn’t seem to be the case. I was once saved by her, when she descended to the mansion at the depths of my memory. If she hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t even be here thinking like this. It was a veritable ‘depth of the abyss’, for me, a place where I wandered on the border between life and death --- but I wonder if that was even close to what she called ‘the abyss’.

After that, I thought of the elementary school girl I met today. I recall how the imbalance between her indifferent smile and her actions distorted the scene. Ten thousand yen for one ghost photograph, was it? I mean, when I was in elementary school, even five hundred yen was a lot of money. Even the New Year's money I received once a year at New Year's was almost confiscated completely. That’s why it certainly felt wrong for an elementary school kid to meet with adults through the internet to trade ghost photos for tens of thousands of yen. But – kids are kids. They will still have plenty of opportunities to get back on the right path, and I think it’s the role of society and adults to help them do so.

But – on the other hand, a voice inside me asks myself whether that was something that I, a mere half man, should be doing. In other words, it was hard for me, a halfwit, to find an answer even if I thought about it. If I were to run into that elementary school girl again somewhere, I had no concrete idea on what to do.

“…Ugh.”

With a sigh, I looked up at the loft where the light was leaking in from.

It seemed Yoishi was still awake. She was clacking away on the laptop she had brought with her. I had no idea what she was up to. She’s been at it for a long time now, maybe she’s browsing some grotesque NSFW underground websites that make Ikaigabuchi look like mere child’s play.

--Trying to rehabilitate her really is impossible, isn’t it?

Like Krishna-san had said all along, does that mean a large miracle is required? When I recall the cold words she spoke today, I lose confidence, and at the same time, I get this sick twisted feeling in my stomach. They were probably sound arguments, but I felt they were worthless opinions. They sounded like the kind of thing I would expect to hear from a small, narrow-minded adult, the type of person I despise.

Looking at the light coming from across the loft reminded me of that and irritated me, so I pulled the covers over me and closed my eyes tightly. But that didn't make me sleepy - on the contrary, it made me remember all the more.

If I remember correctly, Yoishi had said that she couldn’t see the girl’s face. No, actually, that was the beginning of the whole problem. I wonder if she’s solved that mystery yet.

In order to confirm that, I threw off the futon, when—

An uncomfortable feeling took hold over me.

The room felt unnaturally dark. No, it was obviously dark with the sole light coming from Yoishi’s laptop, but between the light from the loft and my bed, there was another darkness present, an invisible darkness of an unknown nature. Drifting there as if blending in the dim light – it was like a black mist, like black ink stained on a shirt --- I had a feeling, I had seen it before somewhere….

Ahh. I remembered.

It was in the ghost photo which Yoishi was supposed to have burned. The photo of the elementary school kids playing that Kokkuri-san-like game called ‘Dear Nostradamus-Sama’. I'm sure I saw something black like this in that twilight classroom scene.

I closed my eyes tightly. And then slowly opened them. However, it was still there. It wasn’t just my imagination or an optical hallucination. There was definitely something hanging in mid-air in that part of the dimly lit room.

Before I’d realized, the sounds of Yoishi clanking away on her keyboard had disappeared.

The world was deathly silent, absent of all sound.

“…Y, Yoishi.”

I couldn't help but let out that voice, when—

“I know already.”

I heard a voice from the other side of the loft.

“…W-what should I do?”

“Ignore it.”

...I-ignore it? That’s impossible…!

“It’ll disappear eventually.”

How long do you mean by eventually…?

I was about to ask, when I felt that black mist move. Its center wiggled in a vortex, creating a gap in the space. I think I smelled a damp scent wafting from there. An odor I had smelled somewhere before. It seems that smells are sometimes directly connected to memory. Completely disregarding any chronological order, they can suddenly materialize sights and visions seen in the past. That might have been the case this time. That nostalgic fragrance brought back the memory I least wanted to recall.

…Hey, stop it.

Sentimentality is a gap – and the wounds of a broken heart. I was supposed to be standing in my 10 sqm loft apartment, but somehow, I found myself thrown into my mother’s room at home.

The frayed tatami mats.

The ingrained scent of mosquito coils.

And standing in front of me, lay the sooty, old fusuma.

It opened slightly ajar once more, and from the darkness beyond, something peeked my way. I bite down on my clattering teeth, and pull the bed covers over my head. It was already over. Everything was over. I would never run back there again. I would live reality. I would plant my feet on the ground, and I would live my life, one step at a time – is what I kept repeating to myself over and over in sheer desperation, but the fusuma door continued to open.

The darkness opens its mouth, and something inside places its hand on the edge of the fusuma.

“…S…stop it, don’t come out of there.”

But – at that moment.

I felt someone’s presence, standing right beside me. As I held my breath, someone touched my shoulder, startling me. They lifted the futon suddenly and slipped into the futon.

“….E, EEEEEK!”

“Be quiet.”

It was Yoishi’s voice.

I realized her slick, long hair was touching the tip of my nose, and her cold palms were on my back. There was no rubbing, stroking or kind gesture from there on, but the palm of her hand had barely managed to hold back my mind from collapse.

Yoishi’s brow was right in front of my lips, and in the darkness, my foolish thoughts drifted to ‘Ah, she really does smell like this.’ My lower half began to stir sexually for a moment, but what struck me more profoundly was mystery of the life form. Even Yoishi was a lifeform who came into this world through the stomach pains of someone somewhere. Such an obvious fact came rushing towards me as if I had never thought about it before. A feverish body. Shoulders that rise and fall slightly with each breath. And the faint sound of her heartbeat – I match my heartbeat to the heartbeat of Yoishi as a life form. I match my breathing. I slowly breathe in, and exhale deeply; I repeat the process. We became so synchronized in the darkness to the point where it felt as if Yoishi was breathing in the air I breathed out. And that brought me a deep sense of tranquility. It made me feel like I was not alone in this world, it was like it was telling me that I didn’t need to suffer all alone.

The next thing I knew, the fear in me had disappeared. As I matched Yoishi’s breathing, my eyelids closed silently - and I somehow drifted off into a peaceful, relaxed slumber.

Looking back, I don't know if it was a dream or what.

However, when I woke up the next day, there was no sign of any black stain floating in midair, and Yoishi was asleep in the loft; it was the beginning of just another normal day.

---

It was three days later, on a Wednesday afternoon, that I bumped into that elementary school girl who sold ghost photography.

My university lectures had just finished, and I was walking out the school gates, absentmindedly wondering whether I should kill time at the Beatnik society clubroom in the western building until it was time for my part-time job, or just hang out at a bookstore... when a voice called out to me.

“Good afternoon.”

I turned my head in the direction of the polite greeting to see the pony-tailed elementary school girl from that fast food restaurant on Sunday, smiling at me with a red school bag on her back.

“I see that Onii-san is also from Koumei High School, Are you a university student?”

I was surprised as I answered her cheerful and friendly manner of speaking.

“Oh, it’s you, kid. So, are you from a school near here?”

“It’s not kid, it’s Akane.”

“Hm?”

“My name is Akane Nanamori. I’m a sixth grader at the first Musashino Elementary School.”

“Is that so – I’m Yamada. Nagito Yamada.”

I stood out like a sore thumb talking to a girl as adorable as a child actor on TV in front of the university gates. Students passing by glared at me like I was some kind of pedophile.

“So, was there something you wanted?”

“Yes, I wanted to meet that Onee-san once more. That black tie and blazer was the Koumei school uniform, right? I think I'll go to this school too. Girls wearing ties is really lovely.”

“I don’t know if it’s what you’d call lovely or not, but, well, the affiliated high school is past these zelkova trees, just down the road.”

Akane smiled once more and said, “That's okay.”

“More importantly, Nagito-san. Do you have some time?”

“Me?”

“I'd like to talk to you a bit more.”

I was a little startled to hear her say that with a big grin on her face. That’s how fearless this girl was. She had the kind of amiability that jumps into the middle of people's hearts without warning.

“Ummm… My part-time job starts at 5.” I spoke. “Well… it’s fine if it’s up until then.”

The two of us briskly made our way to a park in a residential area nearby. It wasn’t particularly a big park with merely a sandbox, swings, and gym bars.

I bought a bottle of orange juice and some canned coffee at the vending machine at the entrance, handed over the orange juice to Akane, and as soon as I sat down on a bench there, was asked:

“Are you going out with that Onee-san?”

“….Hrrrk!”

I had just taken a gulp of coffee, and involuntarily choked at the unexpected question. As I frantically tried to spit out the coffee that had entered my windpipe, Akane spoke happily, flapping her legs back and forth.

“A university student and a high school girl from the affiliated school. It must be nice have a date on a Sunday.”

“…No, that’s not it. That might have been what you’d call a date, but me and Yoishi aren’t going out.”

“Is that so? But when that onee-san vomited in the restaurant, you sure took nice care of her. And you even cleaned up after her properly.”

“Saw that, did you?”

“When you throw up that much, everyone’s bound to see it.”

…Well, that might be the case. I concede as I take another gulp of coffee to calm the cough that had finally subsided.

“But that onee-san is really beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Well, maybe.”

“I was mesmerized by her at first. Her black hair is so silky smooth and beautiful, and she really does look cuter with her straight-cut bangs not covering her eyebrows.”

…Her hair might have looked beautiful now because I was the one washing it every three days, but if left alone, it would become stiff and shaggy in no time. And in the case of her bangs, she cuts them herself, the reason being that it’s troublesome if they cover her eyes.

“Ah, but that might be because of how she is. She’s fair, and has a nice figure, and the black tie really suits her in a gothic style.”

…Well, she might have a nice ass, but her breasts weren’t all that much, and her black tie just looked to me like she was going to funerals every day, wait— What the hell was I thinking? I thought to myself as I saw Akane speak ecstatically, and began to wonder if Yoishi held such appeal.

“Yeah, she looked so nice, and I thought to myself: I want to be like that. And then she suddenly looked my way and threw up with a blarghhh! That really shocked me.”

“She has a habit of spontaneously throwing up.”

“But it seems like she’s been able to see ghosts a lot longer than me, that’s amazing.”

“You’d be better off not being able to see those things.”

“Huh? Is it possible that you can see them too, Naigto-san?”

I replied in the negative and shook my head in response.

“I've seen things that I thought might be like that, but that might have been just my imagination. There is a word called ‘schema’, which means that even a stain on the ceiling can look like a person's face if you’re afraid of it.”

Akane's eyes widened in admiration as I arrogantly repeated the second-hand information I had heard from Krishna-san.

“Ooooh, it seems like you’ve been through a lot, Nagito-san. Tell me, tell me, have you been on many adventures with that onee-san? Next time you go, take me with you.”

“No way. It’s not what you’d call an adventure anyway. I’m always getting myself dragged into an awful mess.”

“…Is that so? At any rate, when that onee-san threw up, you dealt with it so lightning fast, right, Nagito-san? It was like you were born to be a puke janitor.”

…Hey!

“I thought that was so sweet of you and what a nice boyfriend you must be. The last time I got sick and threw up outside - I got scolded a lot.”

“…Huh?”

Taken aback, I asked her in reply.

“You were scolded… just for throwing up?”

“I guess my mother must have been embarrassed. She was all dressed up that day, and someone throwing up must have been disgusting, right? One time, there was this girl in my class who got sick in class and threw up, and the teacher got very angry.”

“No, but that's your own kid's or student's vomit, right? There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone gets sick sometimes. It's a normal reaction of the body trying to get rid of impurities.”

Akane reacted with a hmm, and looked at me seriously.

“Nagito-san, you really are a nice person.”

“I don’t really think I’m especially nice or anything.”

“Say, is it alright if I ask you something?”

Akane suddenly turned to me and held up one small finger.

“Tell me three words you think of when you hear the word『family』.”

“…Family? Why?”

“Just do it! The things that come to mind immediately. Don’t think!”

She rushed me, waving her hands impatiently; That’s right, she was still in elementary school, I had forgotten that due to her mature manner of speaking. Realizing that fact once more, I decided to go along with her demand.

“I got it. Emmm… three things, was it? First is --『tree』. Second is 『help』.And after that is, uhh…”

When I tried to think of a third word, that dark room suddenly sprang to mind. The word 『Fusuma』filled my head with bitter memories. But I shook my head to get rid of it, and remembered my mother's gentle smile with her eyes partially closed, and spoke:

“『Relief』, I guess.”

Akane looked at me in fascination for a while, and said, “Oh, well.” She seemed to have guessed that I had replaced that last word in the end, I squirmed uncomfortably on the bench before repositioning myself and asked:

“So, what's this all about?”

“What do you mean by ‘tree’?”

“Ah, I guess I said that because my family’s in the lumber business.”

“Oh, I see. So the ‘help’ you spoke of next referred to helping out your family with their work since you were a child. Then we come to the ‘relief’ you mentioned. That one alone seemed somewhat artificial, but, it’s fine, I’ll let it pass. I’m sure the real answer lies within Nagito-san’s heart.”

“….Oof.”

“You see, the order of these word associations is supposed to go from ‘pleasant’ to ‘unpleasant’. In short, the most positive image of the family first comes to mind, followed by the most negative. Of course, there are children who think of negative words first. Like me.”

“…What did you think of?”

“Hell, Cleaning – Maze.”

Akane spoke those words, and grinned once more.

But this time, the smile was lonely, resembling a lost child desperately trying to find the place they belonged.

“Say.” I asked: “Why ‘Kokkuri-san’ – or was it ‘Dear Nostradamus-sama’? Why were you playing something like that? Were you searching for something?”

“Nothing, really.”

Akane spoke with indifference, as she swung both legs back and forth.

“Nothing? Then don’t do it. Nothing good comes from playing ‘Kokkuri-san’.”

“I know. But I was told in class that there are no such things as ghosts. They called me a liar. That’s why I had to prove it. There are many things that elementary school kids have to deal with.”

“….”

As I gazed at her lonely profile from the side—

Well, that’s true, I was convinced. When I think about it now, something like cliques existed in my elementary school years. There was definitely a world of children, A place that existed in the absence of adults.

“Then, were you able to prove it?”

“Yeah, they stopped calling me a liar.”

“…Is that so?”

“But…”

“…Hm?”

“They're all afraid of me now.”

Suddenly –

As she muttered that, Akane’s profile became perfectly transparent. I reflexively rubbed my eyes and looked once more. Her skin, her capillary vessels dissolved in the air, only the faint vestiges of the elementary school student known as Akane Nanamori remained—

I found myself reaching out with my fingertips and poking Akane a little on the cheek with a plop.

“Whaa…?”

“Ah, sorry.”

“…Y-Yamada-san, Nagito-san, are you a pervert? You prefer little girls?”

“NO! It just looked like you were about to disappear. I mean, it really did.”

“I won’t disappear! I’m not about to!”

“My bad. Sorry. No, you know Yoishi said— I mean that high school girl from the other day, she said she couldn't see your head, or something like that, so maybe I just felt that way.”

“…That onee-san said that?”

Akane then nodded in a strangely impressed manner and hesitated for a moment before asking.

“Say, is it alright if I ask you something?”

“…Hm?”

“That onee-san, is she dead? Did she die once somewhere?”

“…What?”

“I can tell. People like her. Because they’re cut off. Their body and soul.”

“Umm, well…actually…”

With my hands on my knees, I decided to ask her. I don’t know if it was something prudent to ask an elementary school kid, but I wanted to know the opinion of a person involved with the world beyond, whether it was an elementary school kid or a girl, no matter how trivial their opinion was.

“Do you think a person like that can be saved?”

“…Saved?”

“Ah, by saved, I don’t mean to sound outlandish or anything, I just wanna know if you can help them smile and go on with their lives?”

Akane started her answer with "I don't know, but..." and continued.

“I don’t think it's a problem that Nagito-san can do anything about.”

“What do you mean?”

“Unless that onee-san wants to be saved, it’s not going to happen.”

Frustrated, I ruffled my hair, and spoke:

“That’s the thing I can never be sure of. Is she giving me a sign that she wants to come back? If she really had no attachments to this world, she would have died long before I could do anything about it. But I can't help but feel that her attraction to the occult is a different kind of impulse. I don't think someone’s eyes shine like that when they’re rushing to their death.”

“Aah—”

Akane gave a mature smile in response and replied:

“She might just be… giving it a try.”

“A try?”

When I asked her that, Akane said ‘Yeah’, and gave a lonely smile in response.

“Because I'm the same.”

---

Eyelids are such a marvelous thing: a thin piece of skin that separates your eyes from the world.

Without them, how restless of a world would people have to live in? When a person is tired, when they want to think things through without any obstructions, and when they end up face to face with things they don’t want to see – they are truly a reliable shield. A trustworthy partner that provides hearts and minds a brief shelter from the cruel realities that draw close without mercy. But nowadays, eyebrows are being treated rather unfairly by those who complain about their eyebrows swell up on some days, or those who wish they had double eyelids. To them, the eyebrows should have a thing or two to say: I am your shield, the last fortification that moistens your eyeballs, prevents impurities from entering, and maintains your peace. Only the warm rays of the sun are allowed to penetrate gently, but that is because of the sun's greatness—

I wake up every morning with this thought in my head, but on this particular day, the sun was a bit too strong. Regardless of how thin and cheap the curtains in my room were, wasn’t the light from the sun a little too strong?

Could it be that I’d forgotten to close the curtains before I slept? I wondered while rubbing my doozy eyes as I woke up, when I found two legs straddling me.

As I look up from the navy blue socks, I am struck by the curves of the white thighs and see -- a short black skirt. The exposed skin between the top of the knee high socks and the hemline of the skirt were perfectly formed, and though the undergarments weren’t visible, the chain of the white blouse, black tie and black blazer were of the distinctive Koumei high school uniform.

“It’s eight o’ clock.”

The sunlight bounced off the long, black hair from her shoulders, Yoishi looked down on me for some reason as she spoke.

“Let’s go on a date.”

“…Huh?”

“Since It was ruined midway through the other day.”

Yoishi said that as she tried to throw off the futon, I panicked and tried to stop her.

Hey, isn’t this development a complete reversal from always?? I was always the one fighting to wake her up after she had spent all night surfing the net, made her wash her face, made her eat, and if the situation called for it, strapped her to the back of my mama bike so that we could ride together to school.

“A date--? Isn’t it a weekday? What are you gonna do about school?”

“There are countless things in the world more important than school.”

She spoke with a serious expression on her face, making me feel it was useless to try and argue with her.

It couldn’t be helped, I thought to myself, as I grabbed a fresh pair of pants and shirts before heading in to the unit bath to change. There, I suddenly remembered, opened the door a little and spoke my mind.

“Say, it’s about that girl, the one who was selling the ghost photographs. Can’t you help her somehow? I ran into her the other day and had little chat, she’s not a bad kid.”

“You met her? Where?”

“She was hanging outside the university. So, I talked to her for a bit.”

“…”

“Anyways, it seems she was called a liar in class, so she tried to rebut them by playing ‘Kokkuri-san’ or something.”

However, Yoishi didn’t answer at all. I finished changing my clothes, and washed my face, applied water to my disheveled hair and fixed it up a bit, and when I came out of the bath, I saw her with her hands on her lips, lost in thought.

“Hey, Yoishi.”

Yoishi looked at me in a daze after I called out to her, and she spoke.

“Anyway, let’s go on a date.”

However, even though she said that, the place she took me to was the second district of Musashino’s Kichijoji Honcho, in short, the Koumei institute as usual. And moreover, it was the Beatnik research society club room in the western club building. It was, in a nutshell, the headquarters of the occult website ‘Ikaigabuchi’.

“W…why are you two here together so early?”

Shiina Kurimoto, aka Krishna-san, the leader and representative of ‘Ikaigabuchi’, with a baby face that looked like a middle school student, and owner of a voluptuous bust, asked us in astonishment, But I was befuddled as well. I had no idea how this qualified as a date, nor the reason why Yoishi had suddenly dragged me out here.

“Let us play ‘Kokkuri-san’ here.”

In response to Yoishi’s abrupt demand, both Krishna-san and I dropped our jaws at the same time.

“K…Kokkuri-san?”

I ask in return, and Yoishi nods in silence.

Krishna-san, who was using a computer on the work table, raised her trademark red glasses with her middle finger, and answered firmly:

“No. You know what ‘Kokkuri-san’ is, don't you?”

“Yes—'Kokkuri-san’ is what is known as a Ouija board in the west, a pseudo- séance that sometimes causes mass hysteria. Most of them are a kind of automatic writing caused by one of the members involved deliberately directing the movements, or by the involuntary muscular movements of the fingers, or through hypnotic states; but sometimes, they are prone to dangerous interference by low-level spirits.”

“If you know that much, then you know it’s not something I’ll allow.”

“This ‘Kokkuri-san’ will be a little different, and it might affect this person.”

Saying that, Yoishi grabbed me by the sleeve of my clothes.

“I may not be able to save him, so I'll keep you as insurance.”

......No, I didn't ask you anything about danger or insurance.

As I’m left dumbfounded, Krishna-san asks:

“What do you mean by insurance?”

“You know specialists who deal in exorcisms, correct?”

Yoishi spoke with a blank expression, causing Krishna-san to frantically grimace back in protest.

“They don’t have the time to get involved in such things. In the first place, they are lending us their help because they agree with Ikaigabuchi’s aim of promoting the segregation of ghosts and people. As long as it's not something urgent or of social significance...”

“This is one of the dangers that’s spreading now here in Musashino.”

Krishna-san went silent after hearing that.

“…What do you mean?”

“A pseudo séance known as ‘Dear Nostradamus-sama’ is beginning to become something of a fad among elementary school students; It doesn’t just summon any low-level ghost, but rather, a specific wandering ghost.”

---

A light-blocking curtain is an amazing thing.

When used, it gives a strange feeling of airtight closure, creating an otherworldly space. And the curtains in the Beatnik research room were excellent at blocking out the light, unlike the ones in my apartment. Originally, this place was intended to be used to verify archive footage, but the moment the drapes were drawn, it became so dark it was hard to believe that it was almost 9 AM, even blocking out the noise outside the window, leaving the room in complete silence.

In the dark room, Yoishi set up a candle she had brought in preparation in the middle of the round table. She then moved four chairs and arranged them around the table. There was one more seat than the number of participants, but it seemed that was part of this particular ‘Kokkuri-san’.

As me and Krishna-san sat around the table, Yoishi took out a scrap of paper of some kind from her pocket. When opened, I saw that it had the Japanese syllabary, numbers, a yes-no, and instead of a torii, it had a hexagram, the so-called Star of David, a six-pointed star with triangles crossing upside down - scrawled on it.

After all arrangements had been made, Yoishi sat down as well. She then proceeded to place an engraved ten-yen coin from the Shōwa era in the center of the paper and placed her own index finger on top of it.

“Let’s begin.”

Spurred on by Yoishi, Krishna-san and I had no choice but to follow her lead, and we both placed our index fingers on the coin. After a deep breath, Yoishi began to speak.

“Dear Nostradamus-sama -- Thou who art linked to the gate of the swirling spiral, who art uninvited by fate, please preach to us with wandering Kotodama.”

Those appeared to be the words Yoishi had researched over the past few days by digging through the internet and visiting Akane’s elementary school.

“Those are some shady sentences.” I spoke.

“I believe the words don’t mean anything.” Yoishi whispered in reply. “What’s important is that they, on the other side, know they are being summoned.”

“Who do you mean by ‘they’?”

When I asked, Yoishi’s fair, well-shaped face, illuminated by the flickering candle-light, seemed to smile enchantingly. However, that gaze lingered on the seat in front of me – the empty one between Krishna-san and Yoishi, causing me to shudder in fear.

“Dear Nostradamus-sama -- Nostradamus-sama. Please appear here, preach to us the path with the wandering kotodama.”

As Yoishi continued to repeat those words in a low key tone of voice, it felt like the club room alone was being isolated from the world around it. It did become considerably colder recently, but the dry air had changed into something slimy – or should I say, the atmosphere of the room had become muddy, as if something cold and creeping began to hang at my feet.

However – Nothing was happening, was it?

As I was about to say that out loud…

With a thud, someone banged on the window from outside, startling me.

Krishna-san and I froze in place. The reason being that the Beatnik research society was located on the third floor. There was no way someone could have banged the window. It must have been hit by a ball or something. I wanted to make sure, but I couldn’t take my hand off the ten-yen coin, so I stayed where I was.

Suddenly, I felt someone’s presence cross directly behind me, and yet, I couldn't dare look behind me in the fear I would witness something unpleasant. On the other hand, I was afraid to look at the empty seat in front of me. Krishna-san being right next to me was a source of comfort, but the fact that she herself remained silent also scared me.

I came to realize that Yoishi’s mouth movements, which were repeatedly chanting the incantations with her eyes half-open, had ceased.

In the concrete clubroom, silence alone, was deafening.

The candle continues to flicker and sway, and I wondered…

…Wasn’t it strange? The other side of the window which was abuzz a moment ago, had fallen silent… No—there was a sound. I didn’t know how to describe it; it was like something was ringing in my ears. Like an uughh… or an ughoo… a muffled sound, like hearing someone’s voice underwater.

“---It’s here.”

It was the moment of Yoishi’s low whisper.

My finger moved with a twitch, and instantly, a cold sweat ran down my spine.

The ten-yen coin beneath my finger – was moving. No one was putting power into their fingers, and yet, the ten-yen coin twitched and wriggled as if it were a living thing.

“Don’t lift your fingers under any circumstances.”

Krishna-san nodded nervously at Yoishi's request, and I nodded back, holding back the tears in my eyes.

“Is this Nostradamus-sama?”

In reply to Yoishi’s question – there was silence at first.

Eventually, the ten-yen coin began to move sluggishly and stopped when it reached the position of ‘Yes’.

“I have a question.”

In reply, the fingers started moving again as if they were being dragged by the ten-yen coin – However, this time they stopped at ‘No’.

--No? Does that mean questions aren’t allowed?

Isn’t asking questions the main part of ‘Kokkuri-san’?

“I'd like you to tell me something.”

Yoishi asked once more, however, the ten-yen coin stayed firmly planted on ‘No’.

“Are questions not allowed?”

In response, it began to move once more. With a dragging sound, the ten-yen coin shifts sideways and stops at the position of ‘Yes’.

Is this what Yoishi meant when she said this Kokkuri-san would be a little different?

“Well then, can you do anything?”

The ten-yen coin stayed motionless for a while. Eventually, as if dragging and oscillating, it stopped at some letters, and moved, again and again.

『D』『I』『S』『A』『P』『P』『E』『A』『R』

“Is that about making someone disappear?”

In reply to Yoishi’s query, the ten-yen coin… moved to ‘Yes’.

--Making someone disappear, it can’t be.

“Does that mean – to kill someone?”

With a twitch, the ten-yen coin moved and slowly swayed at ‘Yes’.

My fingertips were now frozen stiff, and my palms were completely drenched in sweat. My eyes were glued to the ten-yen coin in front of me, to the point where I might inadvertently forget to breathe. Was this what you’d call a prank from of a low-class ghost--?

No, I recall what Akane had told me before.

She said she played this in order prove she wasn’t a liar. As a result, she became feared. Yoishi had said that ‘a specific wandering ghost is summoned’—which meant…no way. Did she actually end up summoning a real ‘God of Death’?

“Understood. Those were all the questions I had. Please return.”

However, Yoishi spoke that with her usual expression.

But—

With a rustle, the ten-yen coin moves to ‘No’.

“Please return.”

The ten-yen coin stayed firmly put at ‘No’.

Even though this was a predictable development in ‘Kokkuri-san’ type ghost stories, actually witnessing the phenomenon of involuntary return first-hand made me realize I would have panicked if I were doing it alone.

『D』『I』『S』『A』『P』『P』『E』『A』『R』

『N』『A』『M』『E』

Haa…haa….haaa…haa….

The ten-yen coin moves – and forms meaning. My breathing becomes ragged as I comprehend the words.

“So does that mean you won’t go back until you’ve made someone disappear?”

Yoishi asked in a clear tone, and the ten-yen coin drags towards ‘Yes’.

--Oooooh, Oi, what are we going to do?

In tears, I glance at Yoishi, then Krishna-san. I could see the sweat appear on Krishna-san’s forehead. Her lips were pursed tightly together, and she had at some point, taken her phone out with one hand. In all likelihood, she had looked up the specialists over at ‘Ikaigabuchi’ on her phone, her finger one button-press away from dialing their number.

However—at that moment.

“Well then—”

Yoishi spoke the words I could never have imagined.

“Well then, please make me disappear.”

……………………………………………

The ten-yen coin did not answer. Could that be because it was the first time this summoned entity had heard such a request? I felt a hint of something confused.

“—Stop it.”

The moment Krishna-san spoke that out loud—

…’Yes’.

The ten-yen coin under my finger formed a small arc on that spot.

I looked up in shock and saw that a black mist had been hanging over our heads for who knows how long.

Yoishi’s long black hair ruffles softly as it slowly sinks into darkness. Seeing that made my body feel an imaginary floating sensation. In the midst of the silence, as if time had stopped – Yoishi merely wore an expression of ecstasy. To be honest, I had no idea what had happened to Yoishi. I noticed more darkness spreading out from the darkness, and before long, the black mist expanded wide enough to envelop the upper half of Yoishi’s body.

“….Hey….Wait a minute….”

The mist continued to enshroud Yoishi. Her face -- her upper body, along with her arms outstretched towards somewhere else, they all continued to disappear.

“Nagi-kun, no!”

Krishna-san’s scream reached my ears, but I had already taken my finger off of the ten-yen coin. I stood up with enough force to throw off my chair and clung to Yoishi’s body, which was enveloped by the black stain-like substance.

“Hey, Yoishi! Stop messing around!”

However, the moment I embraced Yoishi’s soft body with both hands, a horrifying chill closed in on me. That was being transmitted through Yoishi’s body to me, and its root was – Yoishi’s outstretched hands, in short, something present inside the mist.

I saw –Yoishi’s outstretched arms, suspended in midair. I saw the thing her white hands were grasping.

It was black. Black and soft – threaded like someone's hair. Yoishi grasped it, as if putting her hand on its roots. And she pulled it out from the darkness. Without any mercy to the other side’s resistance, she dragged it over to this side. However – I couldn’t see anything. There was nothing in Yoishi’s hands. But for some reason, perhaps because of the way it was held as if it were wrapped in both hands, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a human head, and I thought I could hear the sound of a child crying out somewhere.

“Go back.”

Yoishi spoke as she pulled with all her might on what resembled a human head in her hands.

“There’s nothing left for you to consume.”

In the darkness -- did I hallucinate?

I felt I saw Akane Nanamori's head in Yoishi’s hands.

In mid-air, her pretty face was disfigured in a disheveled mess, and she was crying.

“You’re mistaken.”

And with those parting words –

Yoishi Mitsurugi collapsed audibly in front of my eyes.

---

“What on earth is going on, Nagi-kun?”

After informing the driver of the destination, that was the first thing Krishna-san asked after the taxi started moving.

“Ummm… where should I begin?”

Supporting the unconscious Yoishi with my right arm and feeling exhausted, I explained the events that had transpired thus far.

I told her about the girl selling ghost photographs in the fast-food restaurant. The fact that Yoishi had said she couldn't see her head. And about the photo of 'Dear Nostradamus-sama', the ‘slightly different Kokkuri-san' that the girl said was real. How Akane and her friends played it and the unfortunate result, etcetera, etcetera.

“…..Sigh. So that’s what it was.”

Sitting in the passenger seat, Krishna-san breathed a deep sigh after she had finished listening to everything.

“No, I don’t understand any of it…. Just what did it all mean?”

Krishna-san pushed up her red glasses, which had slid down at some point, with her middle finger and spoke:

“In all likelihood, that girl has a knack for conscious out-of-body experiences.”

“Out-of-body… experiences?”

“That’s right, an ‘Astral projection’, so to speak. Recently, methods of intentionally separating the soul have been circulating on the internet, and if that girl uses the internet, it's not surprising that she knows about them.”

“Ahh, now that you mention it.”

I’d also read a thread on ‘Out-of-body experiences’. But if I recall, in the end, no definitive method was ever worked out, and only a few enthusiasts remained after being certified as trolls.

“That’s right. An out-of-body experience isn’t something anyone can easily do, and it is difficult to distinguish from self-hypnosis and lucid dreaming. In general, when it comes to self-hypnosis, it’s very dangerous for a novice to perform these experiments alone, in the absence of a person to dispel their hypnotic state. It depends a lot on the aptitude of the individual and should never be done willingly – I suspect that child did have that aptitude. I believe she's one of those kids who could do it anywhere at will to some extent.”

“Huh? Then, the Nostradamus-sama from a while ago was, in other words…”

“Yes, that child herself.”

Ah—

Exhausted, I finally understood. That’s what she meant when she said she had been called a liar and had to prove herself.

But…Wait a second. Then does that mean that black mist which turned up at my apartment that night was also Akane? Did she come to check our state of affairs? But – if that’s the case, then something doesn’t add up.

“…Um, Krishna-san. If that thing from before really was Akane herself, and if she is a kid who can do astral projections, then who was the one who took those ghost photographs she had? Could you press the shutter of a camera even if your soul was detached?”

“That girl was able to shift her soul slightly.”

As I tilted my head in befuddlement, Krishna-san shaped her small finger like a knife and held them against her neck.

“She must be a child who can detach only from the neck above like this and peer into the spirit world.”

“…Ah.”

I see. So that’s how it was.

“She has no head.” “I can’t see it.”

Yoishi had said so in the fast-food restaurant. So that was, in short, because Akane had left her head on the other side?

“In short, the child could have peeked into the world where the dead roam when she used her astral projection and identified their location.”

“But – But, if I recall correctly, Akane told me she couldn’t see them, only know they were there.”

“We who cannot see it can only imagine what kind of world it is. I told you once before that I used to recognize people by their auras when I was a child, but people were just a blur of light, and I couldn't even tell whether it was the living or the dead I was seeing. However, it is highly likely that my teacher Takita-san and Yoishi can see them more clearly. From there, it's a matter of individual disposition -- but it's possible that only the head of the girl which went to the other side in spirit form did not return.”

….Aah, I see.

I understood the Akane’s situation – but if that was the case, did that mean that Yoishi normally saw people in their spiritual form rather than their physical bodies? Is she always in daze because her mind can't cope with looking at their every detail, and whether willingly or unwillingly, she throws up when she sees something incomprehensible? Hey, hey, hey, what kind of world does she usually see......?

I felt goosebumps in my arms, and rubbed them, when—

“To put it frankly…”

Krishna-san added as she scratched her bobbed hair.

“No one knows anything about the world beyond.”

“…Huh?”

“For conveniences’ sake, the world is divided into this world and the next. Since time immemorial, It is merely something devised by the living out of a sense of regret for the dead. For those who believe in it, the afterlife does exist, and for those who don't, it's a fairy tale. But for example -- hmm, yes, it’s easier to understand if you think of the deep sea, thousands of meters below the surface. Only a tiny percent of the world and the ecosystems that exist down there have been established. For some scientists, it’s a world filled with even more mysteries than Mars. We know next to nothing, but we do know that there is life in the depths of the sea. And if we were to liken highly trained psychics to divers, they can only dive a few dozen meters into the shallows at most. As for what lurks thousands of meters under the sea, no one knows.”

Hearing that—

I suddenly recalled the scene I saw one day when I went to visit a remote island with my father. I remember feeling horrified seeing the color of the open sea from the ferry. On that sea, I clearly saw the moment when its color changed from blue to black. I later learnt that it was from that point, that the Suruga Trough began, but I was terrified at the time, feeling as if hell was opening its mouth. It was the first experience that made me realize that there was a world right there in this world that I could never enter, even if it took me a lifetime.

“One of the biggest reasons astral projections are considered dangerous is because there are cases where repeating them can weaken the connection between body and soul.”

Krishna-san continued speaking quietly.

“For that girl, it may have been like holding her breath and picking up a pretty marble from the bottom of a swimming pool just for the fun of it. However, after carelessly repeating out-of-body experiences, she might have become constantly out of phase, and then, perhaps – her head ended up disappearing from the neck up.”

“Is… Akane alright now?”

“I don’t know.” Sighed Krishna-san.

“In the end, it’s always a problem on our side. Around evening time, a few friends gather around a peculiar piece of paper. They address things that aren’t supposed to be there. Then three or more people put their fingers on a ten-yen coin. Ordinary people would have doubts at the onset about the ‘maybe’ in this situation. If you start believing even 1% of the time, that’s when the paranormal comes into play. In other words, what makes ‘Kokkuri-san’ so dangerous is that it is a form of séance that leads to a state of mind that is easy to connect with. From a probabilistic point of view, it's usually stranger that the ten-yen coin doesn't move. Everyone tries to move it in one direction or the other and immediately gives up on the direction in which it doesn't move, but sometimes the direction of movement just happens to match. It feels as if it moved regardless of one's intention. At that moment, the probability of paranormal existence jumps up in the mind of that person. Therefore, it is best not to play ‘Kokkuri-san’ if you are apt to believe in it -- And the real problem is the human mind that starts to think about playing games like 'Kokkuri-san'.”

Krishna-san's voice, which had gotten louder at some point, startled the taxi driver – but I recalled something. Three words Akane had mentioned regarding ‘family’.

Those were ‘hell’, ‘cleaning’ and ‘maze’.

She said the first word that comes to mind was ‘pleasant’, and the last word was ‘unpleasant’ -- What was life like for an elementary schoolchild who’s first thought when she hears of ‘home’ to be ‘prison’? Somewhere originally meant to be a place of safety to rest your body and mind, what would compel someone to feel as if it were a place to be lost and search for an exit?

“Children follow and believe their parents as though they are the only absolute God.”

Krishna continued to speak sadly.

“Whether that is right or wrong, it’s not something they can decide, as they only have an extremely narrow set of morals. I would like to hope the adults around her handle things wisely, but— from this point onwards, we're stepping into private territory, and that's not something an outsider can carelessly intrude into based on speculations, so it’s difficult. There are some things in this world that can't be dealt with by effort alone.”

Oddly enough – Yoishi said the same thing in the fast-food restaurant.

I've certainly witnessed parents beating their children badly on the street. I’m always confused about whether to stop them, or to overlook it. I wonder if that’s going too far as a part of their upbringing, but then I end up thinking that just might be my point of view because I’m not the parent. Maybe I'll understand that one day when I become a parent. Maybe the parents who beat their children are the ones crying on the inside. That’s what I hope – but, no matter how much I think on it, as I am now, I wouldn’t know.

“Well then, now it’s my turn to ask the questions.”

Suddenly hearing that voice, I look up to see Krishna-san turning towards me.

“Why is this taxi heading towards your house?”

“…Huh?”

“Why is this taxi, meant to be heading to Yoishi’s house, headed to your apartment? I have been wondering about this for a while now.”

…Oh no.

I was in a hurry and gave the driver my home address without thinking about it – it sounds extremely suspicious for sure. Sweat trickled down my clothes and I gently looked at Krishna's face. The petite, baby-faced occult website manager frowned, and her large eyes behind her red glasses glittered with a light that would not allow any lies.

“U…ummm…”

If I had lied at this point and said it was because I didn't know where she lived, things might have turned out fine.

But I wasn’t good at lying, and if the truth did come out some day, then this person’s trust in me – assuming she still had any left — would be lost to the very core. She would never take my words at face value ever again. I didn't want that.

“Uh… Actually.”

I started from the beginning. How Yoishi had crashed into my apartment for almost a month now, bringing along nothing more than a single bag. How I had been struggling with Yoishi, who was parasitizing in my loft and who ate, slept, bathed and lived wrong in every way, and that a lot had happened during that time and that I had finally decided on the ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi Rehabilitation Plan’.

After I had told her everything:

“…In short, right after the incident with Takamura-san?” Krishna-san asked, dumbfounded.

“It’s already been a month… under the same roof?”

I nodded quietly.

Krishna-san let out a deep, deep sigh as she sunk in her seat.

For a while, only silence filled the interior of the car, and I felt the taxi driver's ears were becoming like Dumbo. It was really awkward.

“Ever since I first met you – we haven’t seen eye to eye on this.”

Krishna-san eventually muttered.

“I keep telling you it’s impossible to bring Yoishi back to this side, and you stubbornly continue to try, always putting yourself in danger.”

“……..”

“And it’s already becoming your life. I’m sure that determination was already solidified when you recently jumped off the roof of the school building.”

The fact that her voice did not contain anger, but more like she was letting loose, had the opposite effect of making my conscience ache.

“I’m sorry.”

When I apologized, Krishna-san spat out that it was nothing to apologize for.

“It’s not something to apologize for – but, there’s nothing much a girl can do when a boy has decided to do something, and that makes me a little sad.”

Hearing that timid line made me feel a deep sense of guilt and remorse, and I lowered my head. I suddenly felt a gaze and looked up and caught the eye of the taxi driver looking in the rear-view mirror. For some reason, I felt the taxi driver was saying this with warm, wrinkled eyes:

-- I'm glad you’ve met a nice woman, kid.

Did he mean Krishna-san – or was it this paranormal high school girl who was leaning over like a corpse beside me with her long black hair covering her face?

I had no idea.

---

“Things can't go on like this forever, I'll try to come up with something as well.”

After helping me put Yoishi on my futon downstairs, Krishna-san said this and left.

“However, in the unlikely event that you do something strange or indecent to Yoishi – I will never ever ever talk to you again! I’ll revile you for the rest of my life -- no, for the next seven generations!”

She yelled out loud while blushing just as the door closed.

I wouldn’t do something like that – or rather, was she really going to live seven generations beyond my time, I thought exasperatedly as I saw her off.

It was still just past noon, and bright outside.

I absentmindedly gazed at the light pouring in from the window and realized that, in the end, Yoishi didn’t go to school today. She’ll probably end up being marked absent without reason.

In the first place, how did she explain her parasitizing in my loft to the school? The fundamental question is, where the hell are her parents? Tuition fees for private schools don’t come cheap, so who the hell is paying for her? The girl who was shrouded in all that mystery was right now comfortably asleep next to me. Seeing her eyes closed with a strangely cute expression on her face, it was as if she was replenishing the sleep deprivation caused by staying online until dawn, rather than collapsing from extreme mental fatigue, and that started to piss me off. I glared at her fair, well-formed face – but then I thought…

In the end, didn’t she manage to save that girl? Before, she said something like ‘What happens to her is none of my concern’, but at that time, the thing Yoishi had dragged out from that black mist-like thing was the head of that girl that hadn’t returned.

“It’s definitely not what I would call the smartest way of doing things, but this girl does turn up to help in the end.”

It was right when I said it—

“…That’s not it.”

Her long eyelashes twitched, and Yoishi opened her large eyes.

“Huh, you woke up? What are you talking about?”

I called out to her, and Yoishi replied with a dazed expression:

“I didn’t help anyone. That’s not something I can do. I was just curious about why that girl's head was missing.”

….Ah.

I was relieved thinking that everything had been resolved amicably, but there were still a lot of things left I didn’t understand. Yoishi threw up abruptly at that fast-food restaurant that time. I don't know if it was a ghost or malice that made her throw up, but it was because she felt something incredibly horrific there. Besides that, Akane Nanamori also said that when she pawned off that photo to Yoishi. That this photo was really dangerous.

“But what a pity.”

Yoishi spoke while looking up at the ceiling.

“That girl, doesn’t have long to live.”

Her stilted speech, painted my world dark.

“….D, doesn’t have long to live? What do you mean?”

“Combined with what you heard, the girl’s classmates doubted she could sense places where ghosts wandered and take their photos. And to prove that, she used Kokkuri-san. She probably summoned herself by herself.”

“Ah, I understand that much. So, the astral projected head of hers didn’t return, right? Then didn’t you pull something out of that misty thing? Wasn’t it her?”

Yoishi quietly shook her head.

“I couldn't see her head from the beginning, nor could I see a ring of light or anything that resembled a guardian spirit. This was very unusual. There's usually more than one entity standing over everyone's shoulder -- Did it already escape? Or was it consumed? -- There was nothing on that child's shoulder.”

“Oooo, Oi, consumed?”

…No, that was it. When we were playing ‘Kokkuri-san’, it was the last thing Yoishi said. ‘There’s nothing left for you to consume’. Who… was consuming what, exactly? If that wasn’t Akane, then what on earth was Yoishi talking to?

But then – I remembered.

Come to think of it, what was that woman sitting next to Akane in the fast-food restaurant? Yoishi had described her as a woman with dark eyes who was fiddling with something….

“Y-Yoishi…. What… did you see?”

I ask, opening my parched throat.

“What was the ghost of the woman you saw sitting next to Akane in the restaurant?”

“I called it a woman for convenience’s sake – but, that wasn’t entirely accurate. It’s face definitely resembled that of a woman. It had slender arms, but the torso was long and thin, stretching like a snake into the darkness beyond. Sometimes it comes floating up from somewhere at great speed and eats whatever is there. I believe it's using that 'Dear Nostradamus' as an entrance now.”

“…W, wh, what the hell is that monster? Why the heck did it suddenly appear?”

“In all likelihood, the hexagram used in ‘Dear Nos' is to blame. It’s the Star of David in the West, but - in this island country, it's more like a Kagome crest. It's an old belief in places like Shinshu. Kagome points to a 'Curse God'."

“…C-curse God?”

“I’ve seen them several times before. But I didn’t know what that was. I tried to get that girl’s head back, but that was impossible. Maybe it’s not something possible for a human being to do”.

Those decisively hollow words… made my skin crawl.

I can feel the presence of something other than me and Yoishi in this room, something else was creeping in.

“As that child continued her astral projections, she ended up being marked. It’s often said that an astral projection is dangerous because it weakens the connection between body and soul, but that’s not the only reason. If something unfamiliar wanders aimlessly in front of you, then the things nestled in the 'abyss' will take an interest.”

After that, Yoishi gazed at me with her glass bead eyes, and spoke.

“You often ask me what I see. You ask me what the world beyond is like, but even I don’t understand it well. However – right now, I recalled something awfully similar.”

“That is…?”

“The sea at night. The dark, black – sea.”

“….”

“It’s too dark to see what lies out there. It’s so vast and so deep that it’s enough to overwhelm you. If you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of something peeking out of the water, but what that is and where it came from is something no one will tell you, and it’s not something one can know as long as they are alive.”

Those words made me recall Krishna-san’s words once more—

Before I’d realized, the dark sea appeared before my eyes. The rough sound of the crashing waves was right up close to my ears. I recalled the fear of being dragged in, of something huge staring back at me.

“S…say, Yoishi. If Akane had peeked in the ‘abyss’ you’re talking about – and if that black mist-thing that appeared in the clubroom at that time was the entrance to it – then how were you able to come back after being swallowed by it?”

In reply, Yoishi sat up with a curious expression on her face.

“Why, you ask…?”

And then, she told me, with a gaze that seemed to taste the despair inside me.

“Because, I’m---"

“Someone who's already been thoroughly consumed.”

---

Translator's notes and references

Back to Prologue

Return to Main Page

Forward to Case 10: The Invisible Friend