Phenomeno Volume 1 Chapter 1-3

Flow[edit] 1[edit]

Hey, mother.

If the beings called ghosts existed in this world—

Would it ever be possible for someone to prove their existence such that no one anywhere could argue otherwise?

I think it would be impossible, no matter how much humanity evolves. On the flip side, it also means no one anywhere could prove irrefutably that they do not exist.

From that standpoint, to discuss whether ghosts exist or not is a complete waste of time. That's why people who can emerge victorious from such a discussion, must be people who can purely enjoy ghosts as a source of entertainment. Indeed, I fall under that group, and you could call me quite bluntly as an occult maniac.

Mother may not know, but this is quite a niche existence in the world — to be of my age and go ghost this, UMA that; I know that people laugh at people like me. But you know, there are plenty of things in the world that are inexplicable.

Yes—

For example, the house I'm living in.

This old, almost thirty-years-old building is by the side of the Tamagawa waterworks, and partly because it's located in such an odd place, has an incredibly low rent. When I came to Tokyo this spring, I looked for a cheap apartment, and found this place.

It takes ten minutes of biking to reach a convenience store. It's surrounded by darkness and covered by a thick copse, and because there are no streetlights in the area it's completely dark at night. However, I enjoy this old building. It was built like an old mountain cottage, as the first floor was a garage and the second and third floors were a blow-out, so it was more than luxurious for a person living alone. The kitchen was as cramped as a kitchenette, but it had a living room, a Japanese-style room, a bath, and even an atelier. From what I hear, an architect had designed it as a personal workplace. I liked it at first sight. Furthermore for a place with a bath to be just 30,000 yen in Tokyo Musashino was unthinkably rare, and it even came with an oral story that could not be ignored.

"This is a house that grants wishes."

So said the smiling real estate agent who introduced this place to me.

"The architect who built this became famous, the illustrator who moved in became busy and moved closer to the city, and the young couple that was living here until last month gave birth to a baby, which led to this becoming open. You are quite lucky."

After hearing that, who wouldn't immediately seal the deal?

So, I jumped at the opportunity. There was probably a feeling of superiority too, given that my colleagues at university pay over twice the rent and live in rabbit cages. In any case, I was quite pleased at how lucky a man I was with my first time living alone.

Yet — within a month I realized how big of a mistake that was.

I can hear sounds somewhere when I'm sleeping at night. The squeaking of something persistently attempting to open some old door. I'd assumed it was just some bad structuring somewhere, but I soon realized that it was odd that it always happened at 2AM. I tried going to the living room from my bedroom at the edge of the second floor. And the sound would stop. I thought, maybe it was coming from above, and went to the atelier on the third floor. But there was nothing that could be the source of the sound. I'd planned to eventually organize it to be cooler, but at the moment it was a bare environment with just my desk and a bookshelf. I looked around but the windows were all shut, so there was nothing to make a sound. After that I went to the toilet and the bath. However I could not find anything that could be connected to the sound. So I thought maybe I'm just hearing things and went to sleep again. But then the sound started again. Squeak, the sound of old wood groaning. I could also hear the sound of something scraping. It wasn't like a mouse or a cat. It was an eerie sound, like something trying to crawl out of somewhere dark after having been tormented for a long time.

Eventually that sound stopped seemingly echoing throughout the house, and felt like it was seeping through the atmosphere around my ear. As a result, I began keeping the lights on throughout the house and using earplugs when sleeping. However, the problem stopped being just sound.

It was about two weeks ago.

I found a decisive thing.

I found "七" (seven) carved into the wall of the landing of the stairs with something sharp.

I immediately checked the doors and windows around the house. But there didn't seem to have been anyone entering. I was probably terrified. It was a pretty big engraving, but I forced myself to think I had just never noticed it before. A few days later, though, I found near the bathtub "六" (six). Something sharp had carved it into the window sill. And then a week ago, I found near the toilet "五" (five), and even this easy-going person had to believe it.

Something was in this house.

And that this was some countdown.

I immediately jumped out of the house. I couldn't live in the house anymore. I hadn't made any close friends yet at university, so I lived in karaoke boxes and net cafes for several days. I couldn't talk about this to anyone. I didn't know any monks, nor any mediums. Then I realized. Right, maybe the people from "Ikaigabuchi" (Edge of the Netherworld) would be perfect for discussing this with! The colleagues of mine whom were also into the occult world may believe me.

And so—

Incidentally, they aren't suspicious people at all.

"No, "we" are plenty suspicious."

"... Huh?"

I recoiled at the sudden voice from above.

When I looked up, I saw Karasu's white face, and she was waving her hand.

"Yo, Nagi."

"K- Karasu. Since when were you there?"

I checked the time on my cell phone.

It was 10:30PM. There was still 30 minutes until the offline meeting taking place at 11.

"Right around when you began explaining 'the house that grants wishes' to your mother."

"... That's basically the start."

I complained, as I grumpily placed my stationery back my bag.

"Sorry, sorry. But you know, peeping is like our trait, you know?"

Said Karasu as she smiled cutely.

This was a family restaurant near Itsukai Ichikai road.

We were going to have an emergency offline meeting here with the members of an occult site I frequent. And of course, Karasu wasn't her real name. It was a handle that she used online. Just as I, Yamada Nagito, go by the name "Nagi", she went by "Karasu." This was the third time we'd met, but I still didn't know her real name. However, she was a veteran on the "Ikaigabuchi" site, and thus a big senior to me, who'd only begun looking at the site this spring.

Her appearance was as usual. A purplish velvet dress that reached her ankles, and below that was just a black camisole, or rather, her chest was completely bare. Her breasts looked like they would jump out at any time, which made looking at her awkward — however, this was her uniform of sorts.

"You're quite early, did you close shop early today?"

I asked.

"Pretty much. Fortunetellers don't have much to do when there are no customers."

She took off the stole she was wearing and sat down across from me.

"But you know, to put it frankly."

She played with the skull-shaped accessory shining at her breast as she looked at me.

"Your house probably has nothing to it."

"What?"

"What was it — umm, right, schema."

"Schema?"

"Some word used in cognitive science. If you keep thinking you're scared, then you start seeing faces in the ceiling, that sort of thing. Because you were hearing squeaking every day, you began seeing numbers from the scratches that always were in your house."

"... S- seriously?"

"Seriously seriously. I mean, you came to Tokyo alone from super rural-ness in Shizuoka, and this is the first time you're living alone, right? And then you're living in an old, wooden house alone, so it's not too surprising. I used to live in a house that groaned and squeaked a lot, so I know how you feel. It's like the sound of saran wrapping so it's pretty discomforting."

So she said, as she raised her hand to order beer from the waitress.

Well, wait then. If this was just me being a wuss, then what should I say to the occult veterans that were coming to the offline meeting? Would I get banned from the wonderful site for being an airhead in just one night?

"Ahh, don't worry about it."

She laughed.

"We're a bunch of folk that love meeting and trading shady stories."

"But, it shouldn't be that simple? There were about ten people coming to this meeting."

And then Karasu said huh? and looked at me.

"You hadn't looked?"

"At what?"

"This meeting, I think over thirty people are showing up."

... What?

I hurried accessed the "Ikaigabuchi" offline meeting board through my cell phone.

And then opening the "The house that grants wishes / investigation thread" and was taken aback.

"You're right. Why'd the number suddenly rocket? Are that many people interested in the 'house that grants wishes?'"

"Unfortunately, not at all. See, even the regulars 'Suu' and 'Zippo' are coming to the meeting, right? They wouldn't move for some mere horror tale."

... Some horror tale.

She laughed at the expression I made as she plucked the phone from my hand and then played with it. And then she turned the screen to me.

"This. The fourth poster, going by the name 'Yoishi.' I think this many people are showing up because this one announced their participation."

"Who is 'Yoishi'?"

"No idea."

Said Karasu with a grin as she pulled out a cigarette. She lit the cigarette using a worn, slender lighter, and after blowing out a puff of smoke, quietly whispered.

"Those that meet Yoishi die seven days later."

"What?"

"There's more. Yoishi isn't a living person. Offline meetings that Yoishi attends end in terror. What else was there?"

"W- What is that?"

"Something like an urban legend that started being whispered around 'Ikaigabuchi.' Yet no one's actually met Yoishi. No one knows if Yoishi is some old man, or even what gender they are. However, everyone who attends a meeting that Yoishi goes to remains silent. The entire thread disappears. The participants stop going to 'Ikaigabuchi', or—"

"Or?"

"They die."

Her low whisper felt like ice-cold water splashing down the back of my neck. On the other side, Karasu happily received her glimmering cup of beer, and exclaimed,

"Guah, delicious!"

With a lackadaisical tone.

"But those... are just rumors, right?"

I asked, and she laughed, that's right.

"So basically, even if 'the house that grants wishes' is a miss, there's the hope of 'Yoishi', so everyone's gathering for fun. So you don't have to fret about it any."

She said, but I still felt mixed emotions.

Until now, until today, I was trembling with fear alone, unable to go home. And then I suggested today's offline meeting in the hopes of getting the opinions of the veterans of "Ikaigabuchi." Having the story blown off immediately as my misunderstanding wasn't sufficient to quell my fears.

"However — if Yoishi has gotten interested, might 'the house that grants wishes' be real?"

"Who knows-. I'm just interested in seeing how Yoishi-kun's appearance changes a horror story that doesn't interest me into something more eerie."

... Doesn't interest.

"If it still bothers you, 'Ikaigabuchi' has a page for investigating haunted areas. You can request an investigation. Although I still think you'll just end up being laughed at."

She laughed, as she quickly finished her beer.

Indeed, the "Ikaigabuchi" site did routinely checked out haunted areas around the country regardless of fame.

After investigation, haunted areas were graded on a scale of A to D, with A being called the most dangerous of spots. This rating was very unique, in that famed areas such as Masakado Kubiduka and Iwainari were given a D rank by "Ikaigabuchi" —- in other words, they were rated as the lowest level of danger. Supposedly it was because it had become an area that was "evenly split", as humans and ghosts treated each other with respect.

On the other hand, places given an A rank were often unknown to the common populace. Places such as crime scenes that involved murders brought forth by thick emotions such as infatuation and jealousy, isolated locales of death by seniors who maintained fanatic delusions, and so on. They say those places serve as lightning rods for souls that resented the current world, souls that had lost personalities and simply become clumps of malicious intent, far beyond saving.

As I thought such things, Karasu had begun peering intently at my face.

"Hey, Nagi-kun."

"Yes?"

"You have the mark of a meeting."

"Yes?"

"And this is— a girl."

... Seriously?

My expression loosened at her words.

"Can you tell me a little more?"

"Hmm."

She began playing with the skull-shaped accessory near her breast as she continued.

"How should I put it, it's a very dense meeting. Like two souls previously split are reuniting. But-"

She said, seemingly looking through me and at a different world.

"It's hard to say if meeting this girl will actually result in happiness for you."

"What's that?"

"And furthermore... huh? Wait, isn't she dead?"

.......... Hey.

Isn't that like, being possessed?

You've gotta be kidding me, I thought, but I also remembered that she would tell me such ominous things every time we met. Previously she'd told me I had bicycle luck and then I got hit by a mamcycle on the way back, and then she'd told me I had gold fortune and was happy but then I stepped on a gold-colored thumbtack at home. In other words, she was very good at presenting unfortunate things in a way that you can't tell it's unfortunate, which is an important skill for a fortuneteller, I suppose.

"You know, Karasu, if you're a fortuneteller, shouldn't you also tell people how to avoid misfortune?"

I asked.

"But it's up to the person whether to think of something as unfortunate."

She stuck out her tongue in a cute way, and then shouted to the employee passing by, "Another beer, please!"

As I sat there watching over her in a vexed manner, the door chime sounded repeatedly, and suspicious-looking people filed in one after another. Seeing how they were coming over after noticing Karasu, I deduced they were people attending the offline meeting.

"Yo yo Karasu, as beautiful as always."

"Long time no see to you too, Maru."

"I'm so excited."

"We have such karmic dispositions."

As such conversations continued, my seat in the back of the family restaurant slowly became surrounded by activity. Every now and then I would see a familiar face, but most I had never seen before. I'd actively been participating in offline meetings in Tokyo, and that I continued seeing new faces en masse each time made me realized how deep the world of the occult was.

Just after eleven, the group that had gathered at the back of the family restaurant, with the odd interest, had passed thirty. Or rather, I'd picked the family restaurant figuring there'd be ten, so this was pretty big transgression. The looks from the waitresses passing awkward smiles at me hurt.

"Are there more coming?"

I quietly asked Karasu, who was engaging in friendly chat with other attendees, and she was a bit blushed as she responded, it's way too late now.

"There are a bunch of people who show up without saying anything, so there'll probably be a few more."

"That's problematic."

"This might scare away 'Yoishi', too."

She commented lightly, but—

This might really be troublesome.

"So, which one's Yoishi?"

As expected, not even an hour passed before the conversation blew past "the house that grants wishes."

The countless occult veterans crammed into the family restaurant each looked around them, frantically looking for the accursed "Yoishi."

"Alright, I propose introducing ourselves!"

Said the middle-aged man going by the handle "Professor", with his blushed face.

Seeing empty beer mugs scattered around his table revealed how drunk this person was. And then in response, others chanted "yeah lets do it" and one by one people stood up and gave a greeting. As at least half the participants were getting quite drunk, people began feeling less like occult maniacs and more of a complete drinking party.

"First! I'm Professor! My preferred area of occult are stories from people of post-trauma ethnicity!"

"Second! I'm Rabbit. I love folklore about Ryoumen Sukunsama!"

"Third! I'm Harley! I get excited by stuff related to OOPARTS! At the moment I'm researching Voynich Manuscripts!"

What're they going first second third for? And why are Rabbit and Harley both jumping on the wagon?

The occult maniacs were very playful, and so they began introducing themselves one by one. With incredibly loud volume. I alone seemed to be taking the brunt of the customers' glares from the rest of the restaurant.

"Seventh, I'm Karasu!"

When she energetically stood up, a round of applause arose, and in response she began socializing every which way, so I gave up. Come to think of it, it could be said that every offline meeting for "Ikaigabuchi" turns out this way, and so it's like a trait of the site.

"Here, Nagi-kun. It's your turn next."

Urged by Karasu, I begrudgingly stood up.

"Umm, eight. I'm Nagi. I'm a university student."

"What type of occult do you like?"

"Uhh, I like anything wonderful... but right now things related to ghosts."

When I lightly responded to a question that had been flung at me, people began shouting "you're too tightly-wound!" "you need to drink more!" and someone ordered beer for me. Man, I'm still 18. I'm underage. I can't drink.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll drink it. Just act like you're drinking and they'll be appeased."

Laughed Karasu as she smacked my butt with her palm.

Well in any case, the thirty or so people introduced themselves like this—

And the conclusion.

There was no one here who went by the handle Yoishi.

"Huh, so they didn't show up."

"I showed up to see Yoishi."

"Is anyone faking their handle?"

Said people one by one, but given that most had never seen other and that offline meetings weren't particularly rare, it was hard to figure if anyone was lying.

"Well, since we've all gathered, can we discuss what 'the house that grants wishes' is-"

I began, but "Suu" spoke over me.

"I think."

An old veteran of "Ikaigabuchi" who managed a liquor store and liked collecting things like the arms of tengu and the shell of kappa, if I remember correctly.

"Yoishi might be a different handle of Krishna."

I was sighing, but reacted to that name.

"Hmm, that would make sense."

Someone responded.

"If we summarize the rumors involving Yoishi — umm, if you deal with Yoishi you'll have a terrifying end. Yoishi isn't a living person. Those that meet Yoishi die seven days later. Something like that? But we've never heard any specifics of anyone dying, and maybe certain threads were disappearing because Krishna was secretly joining the horror area investigations? Is what I think, anyways."

I see, nodded even Karasu.

"Krishna hasn't been showing up lately either, so that'd make sense."

"W- wait, please."

I chimed in. "Krishna, as in the administrator of 'Ikaigabuchi', Krishna? Everyone's met him?"

"Met him, or rather, he's always showed up to meetings before."

"But he's not here today?"

"You want to see him?"

"Of course."

The reason I became interested in the site "Ikaigabuchi" in the first place was being the person named Krishna was so fascinating. Of course, part of it was that I was interested in the occult from the start, but there was a different sort of attraction with "Ikaigabuchi."

That was apparent, for instance, by looking at the odd words at the top of the page, "Things that bother people also bother ghosts." From the start, "Ikaigabuchi" was a site intended to sooth matters between people and ghosts. Most people can't see ghosts. That's why, regardless of our lack of ill intent, that we probably bother ghosts more than they do us was a perspective that was both fresh and unique. And as I read articles about reknown horror areas on "Ikaigabuchi", my conviction deepened. Each article was filled with care toward ghosts, taking care to show respect toward both the living and the dead.

"I always wondered. Why are people always afraid of ghosts? Perhaps some ghosts play tricks on people, while other ghosts say come on, stop it, and are stepping in and intervening, yet no one ever thinks of that possibility. Maybe that sort of order is maintained by ghosts, and is why the vast majority of people live without ever being bothered by the supernatural."

That paragraph struck a chord with me, in particular.

These words moved me, when I'd just arrived in Tokyo and hadn't met anyone I could call a friend. I realized more than ever that people were connected to other people through candor. It gave me courage that I could make do in Tokyo, where it's said that peoples' relationships with other people are often weak and diluted, where people try to avoid needless interaction with other people as much as possible. That was actually why I began participating in the site.

I became attracted to the person named Krishna by their daily updates of the wonderful. His deep, yet wide-ranging knowledge of the occult. His in-depth, cool writing style. The truth that could be felt from each and every word. These were all things I lacked, and were packed with things that my soul needed right then. I'd gotten to the point where I felt like Krishna had become like my brother and father in Tokyo.

And if I could—

I wanted Krishna to investigate "the house that grants wishes" himself.

"H- h- how old is Krishna? What kind of person is he?"

"Nagi-kun you're stuttering." "Calm down." "Here, have a drink."

Undeterred by the interruptions by Suu and others, I rephrased my question.

"Please, tell me. How could I meet him?"

However, the response to my question was an awkward silence by the thirty.

"I think he won't show up at an offline meeting again."

"Why?"

"Some things happened-"

"Some things?"

"Well, eventually. You'll find out. Leave it be for now."

I only received vague responses like that.

What broke the silence at the family restaurant was Zippo, who I think worked as a programmer.

"Um... I oppose that opinion."

"That opinion?"

Asked Karasu, and Zippo pushed his thick glasses up and slowly answered.

"That, Yoishi and Krishna are the same person, that thought."

"What do you mean?"

"Actually, I know of someone who's met Yoishi at an offline meeting."

"Really?"

The gathering immediately rose in unison.

"What sort of person?" "How old?" "Guy? Girl?" "Which offline?"

They all asked, and Zippo quietly answered.

"The offline meeting was for an investigation of an abandoned hospital in the Tama prefecture, about half a year ago."

"And, what was Yoishi like?"

"Umm, well... I don't know."

"You don't know?"

Karasu asked, and Zippo swallowed once before answering.

"Because he's hospitalized."

"Hospitalized?"

"Psychiatric ward."

And with that, the excited gathering returned to silence.

It was as if something heavy had descended upon the seats.

"Hospitalized in a psychiatric ward, is that Yoishi's fault?"

Asked Suu, and Zippo slowly shook his head.

"I don't know. But even after regaining consciousness, all he mumbled is Yoishi. That's why I came to this meeting, because if Yoishi came, I wanted to ask, what happened at that offline meeting?"

Everyone fell silent when Zippo stopped speaking.

And then the family restaurant was filled once again with stories of Yoishi. "Come to think of it", was the type of statement preceding conversations as one after another tales of Yoishi leaked out from people.

If I were to summarize such topics—

It seemed "Yoishi" infrequently appeared on the "Ikaigabuchi" forum. Its appearance was not common, but whenever it showed up, it would post in almost every thread, providing opinions on everything, regardless of how maniacal the topic. Given the time of appearance, Yoishi could be imagined as an occult maniac that was sitting in front of a computer almost 24 hours a day. It had knowledge of the supernatural to rival Krishna, but their posts showed no signs of sharing the ghost love that defined Krishna. If anything, they could be described as more eerie — as if a dead person had eerily joined the internet.

"Maybe the rumors that Yoishi isn't a living person, they might be true after all."

Mumbled Jersey, who said he was a writer for a magazine.

"Remember that thread that popped up some time ago, I'm a ghost but do you have any questions?"

"Ahh, the one where IP traces and PC and hosts all came up empty, so people wondered whether it was real?"

"I'm of the opinion that ethereal forms have good synergy with computers and digital equipment. Because you know, brainwaves are weak electrical signals, too."

"You do hear a lot of tales of ghosts writing online."

"Then, that Yoishi—"

Mumbled Suu, in a summarizing way."

"We can't see it — but is it already here?"

Those words sent a chill down my sign.

I looked around the brightly-lit store.

It wasn't just me - it seemed like everyone felt something cold.

After that, the gathering seemed to decide to avoid talking about ghosts. Gradually, seats became arranged by topic as people broke off into their areas of interest.

As the host of the offline meeting, I wanted to bring back the original topic, but I was certain no one remembered anything about my house. Furthermore, Suu was telling fascinating, eerie stories, and that was too interesting to pass up. An box bought from an antique store that could not be opened, ghost stories involving paper money found behind a painting on a hotel wall, a laughing girl who spoke often to a doll — each provided entertainment that could leave you sleepless when alone at night.

Everyone forgot about time as they enjoyed the endless flow of occult discussions—

And at around 1AM, the offline meeting dispersed.

2[edit]

"Wait a second!"

I chased Karasu as she flagged a taxi while glancing at the "Ikaigabuchi" members scattering in small groups.

"What about my house. 'The house that grants wishes.'"

And then the useless fortuneteller waved her hand with a completely flush face.

"No problem no problem. It's that, um, uhhh, schema. And what else, I was going to tell you something else but- hahahah, I forgot-."

"What do you mean 'forgot'..."

"Don't worry! You have the mark of a meeting! See ya!"

She smacked my back and then happily jumped into the stopped taxi.

I stood there dumbfounded as I saw the taxi run off.

"... Hmm."

I wondered if it was alright to go home.

To that house -- "the house that grants wishes."

I walked toward the train station using the main street, dragging along the mamcycle that I'd bought really cheap online for commuting to school.

Tokyo was filled with people even late at night. In particular, the area around the train station near my house was close to many universities, so there seemed to be no difference in the amount of people milling about from noon to night. Right around where I could see the station, I almost ran into a pair of girls, and apologized. One shot me a "who's this punk?" look, but the other smiled and said "I'm sorry." I apologized once more. That was all there was to it, but it filled my heart with joy. Indeed -- a fateful meeting was lying in wait for me. And a girl, no less. This might be good. The bizarre events tormenting me at that house must surely be a build-up for the happiness that awaited. In the future, I would look back at it and laugh it off.

I felt less burdened when I thought of it that way.

And this way I wouldn't have to move out. Moving costs would be painful for me, given that I was receiving no aid from home.

"The offline meeting was fun too, I can't keep complaining."

I mumbled to myself, and I finally straddled the bike.

I turned completely around, and decided to return home for the first time in a few days.

"No one that came to the offline meeting today said anything about 'the house that grants wishes.' If you look at it from another angle, it means it can't possibly be a ghost incident. It's a bit shameful as the original poster, but it's all good in the end, right?"

What would have happened if I'd dragged people over to my house, and it turned out that there were no ghosts? I'd just be a laughingstock.

Having finished arming myself with logic, I faced the soft, comforting night breeze and powered the pedals. I'd recovered to the point where I may have even hummed.

However--

I noticed it when I was about to re-enter the main street from the arcade in front of the train station.

There was a strange, abnormal feeling on the back of my left foot. It was like I was constantly stepping on gum, so I stopped my bike, and took off my sneaker right there.

And then I lifted my left foot a bit, looked at the sole, and froze.

All of my good feelings were extinguished, and I felt my blood freezing.

On the back of my sneaker--

Was engraved the number "四" (four).

"Damn it, what the hell schema."

The countdown was continuing.

I pushed the mamcycle along with mostly a half-step, and every person passing gave me a strange look owing to my frantic look, but I paid them no heed.

I threw away the sneaker with "四" engraved on the spot. I couldn't continue wearing such an eerie thing. The cold of the concrete and the scattered pebbles pierced my feet through my socks, but I didn't care.

Why, when, was "四" carved into the back of my sneaker?

What was going to happen when the countdown ended? And how would I be able to escape from this terror?

I had no idea, but in any case, I kept running.

People in fancy clothing looked at me and laughed, but I didn't care. I just wanted somewhere with a warm atmosphere.

Where.

Where would that be--

Eventually I found a discount shop open late into the night after passing through the arcade, and I jumped in. A stupidly bright theme song was playing in the background. The mass of products were incredibly cheap, and I sang along with the simple, repetitive melody. Flamboyantly-dressed girls avoided me as I stood there, leaning against a shelf holding cosmetics and mumbling to myself. An employee asked me, "Are you unwell?" and I finally realized that my left foot, which was only covered by socks, was throbbing. When I looked, perhaps I'd stepped on a shard of glass on the way, as I saw that the socks had been cut and bloodied. I bought bandages, socks, and the cheapest sneaker, and cleaned the wound in the bathroom. I cleaned the back of my foot, placed the bandage, and wore the new socks. The cheap sneaker had a shoddy design and wasn't very comfortable, but it was better than being barefoot. It was an unnecessary expense, but I felt comforted. I was afraid of being in the bathroom alone so I returned to the inside of the store, and took deep breaths as I wandered around the store as if window-shopping.

-- What should I do now?

I thought, but could come up with no answer.

At some point I'd just begun standing in front of a show window absentmindedly, and the employee from before asked if anything was wrong again, so I left the store. There was no helping it, so I began heading toward the net cafe I'd been using before, but it was already full. I peeked into the nearby karaoke box, but there was even a line spilling out onto the street. I tried wandering around several stores but they were all the same. Come to think of it, it was Saturday night. There would be no openings until the first train.

However, I couldn't think of any other place to go.

I wandered around the station while dragging my bike, and the police would shoot me suspicious looks. I almost felt like it would be more comforting to be arrested, but some level of common sense remained in me, so I turned back to the main street.

The headlights of cars on Itsukaichi Street illuminated me as they passed by. Normally the cars just looked like fuel-consuming devices, but today I felt consoled by them. It was invigorating to look upon things that could be scientifically explained.

However--

I may have been at my limits.

This was no different from being homeless.

I had no one I was intimate with enough in Tokyo, where the light never dims. I had no place to go. And I was running low on funds. I spontaneously looked at the night sky, but just as there were no clouds, there were also no stars. It was just an obsidian dimension that stretched on as if painted.

Perhaps I could call my sister and borrow some money in the morning. And then go back to Shizuoka. Tokyo was too much for me, which was something humiliating to say, but this was just too unexpected. I'd imagine most people would have trouble with such a case, too. Mother, I'm sorry. You supported me so much in coming to Tokyo.

Then--

I saw a strong light at the end of the night street.

When I looked up, I realized I'd come back to the family restaurant.

"I see... this was also open twenty-four hours."

That was enough to make me feel like I'd found a million allies, and my knees almost buckled.

The drink bar here was cheaper than the net cafe, and there were plenty of people about due to it being Saturday night. I should have just stayed here from the start.

"Hahahah."

I laughed to myself dryly, and I must have been very hard to approach with how I looked.

Anyways, I left my mamcycle at the bicycle lot for the family restaurant, and then was about to enter when I recoiled.

There was something even more bizarre that made me not want to get any closer.

Outside the big, glass window to the store.

Inside the fern thicket that seemed to have been planted to cover the store.

Was a girl dressed in full black.

She wore a black long-coat even though it was spring, and her long hair that stretched down her back and her skirt and her boots were also pure black. Yet her skin was abnormally white. And she was crouched in the darkness, so it looked like only her face was floating.

... Wh- what is she doing?

She was standing in the middle of the thicket and almost pressing her face against the glass as she stared into the store.

It was so creepy I was about to back off.

But then she slowly turned to face me. Her face was shockingly white, and the face was perfectly aligned. She was so perfect that I felt like saying she must have been a construct, like a giant Bisque Doll that had accidentally been left there -- that's the impression she gave.

A night-colored girl.

Unexpectedly, those words popped into my head.

Those were the colors of the girl's eyes. Maybe it was because of the lighting, but it felt like an inordinately large proportion of her eyes were taken by her irises, and that under her long eyelashes they seemed to have a jet black glimmer. Below her straight-cut front hair, they shone a dark color as they gazed upon me.

"... Are you."

My mouth naturally spoke.

"... Yoishi?"

The girl silently nodded.

Yoishi isn't a living person. Those that meet Yoishi die seven days later. Offline meetings that Yoishi attends end in terror.

What I'd heard earlier floated around my head as I stared at the girl in front of me.

Seven glasses were laid out on the table in front of Yoishi, ranging from iced coffee to cola to orange juice to Japanese tea, creating her own drink bar.

"Um, aren't you supposed to just take one at a time?"

I said to her in an exasperated tone, but she replied.

"As long as I drink everything there should be no problem."

And she kept her eyes on the glasses as she drank one after another.

She drank orange juice, then iced coffee, and then warm Japanese tea, cola. And she faithfully repeated the order a number of times, sometimes adding Rooibos tea and black tea and melon soda as an accent. I didn't know if there was meaning to the order, but when she did it, it felt like some sort of traditional religious ritual, which was odd.

I took a look again at the girl who went by Yoishi.

She was probably still in high school. I realized when looking at her under a brighter condition that she had immense beauty. However, the problem was her eyes. Those eyes, that seemed like glass beads, seemed to be looking somewhere and yet also seemed to be looking nowhere. It felt as if she did not share the same world, creating a special barrier about her. Hers was not like that of a princess and her high perch, rather if anything, like that of a witch's apprentice.

"Hey."

I asked the girl dressed in black, as she busily rifled through the drinks.

"Why didn't you come to the offline meeting?"

"I was there."

"No, but, when everyone was around, you didn't come."

"I was there. Right there the whole time."

She pointed toward the other side of the window, where I'd first found Yoishi -- in other words, in the bush outside the store.

... There? With her face pressed against the glass?

"Then, what. From 11 until now -- you were there the whole time?"

Yes, she nodded, and as I started at her pale face, I thought.

This girl--

Is she what you'd call psychotic?

It was already past 2AM. To stick to glass for 3 hours from 11PM must have creeped out the employees. When I turned back toward her, a different waitress from before was saying something to Yoishi. Her expression was contorted in an extremely mean manner, in a much more contemptuous manner than they'd shown me. I stood up, having felt like I'd seen something detestable. I immediately walked toward them, declared "I want a drink bar as well," and then headed straight toward the counter to grab a drink. I don't know why I felt so irritated. Probably, it was because I'd felt like I'd been laughed at, as a fellow occult-lover.

I filled my glass to the brim with ice, then pressed the button for iced coffee.

-- Now then, what to do from here out.

As I watched the hot iced coffee melt through the ice, I thought.

I could not go home, and the countdown continued. Furthermore, I had run into the heresy-class occult girl from "Ikaigabuchi." And now, for some reason, I'm alone with her at a family restaurant late at night. In a way, it was comforting that I was not alone, but given that it was an occult girl with strange urban legends attached to her, I was left with complex emotions.

"You like bad coffee?"

When I returned to my seat, Yoishi said that.

"What?"

"I asked if you like bad coffee. The coffee here is unsatisfactory."

I looked at her seven glasses again and noticed that only the iced coffee had hardly been sipped.

"Information that you can gather beforehand should be processed before you act."

Yoishi's neat logic-filled words annoyed me, so I replied with some nastiness.

"Then allow me to gather information. Why did you come to today's offline meeting?"

"Because I was interested."

"In 'the house that grants wishes'? Why are you interested in that house? The sounds are probably just structural groans, and the engravings might just be my mistake, right?"

I said exactly what Karasu told me, in a self-depreciating manner, and Yoishi simply said, "of course," without any hint of retorting.

"Then, why--"

"When I read about that house on the forum -- I felt a bit of an oddity."

Her low, whispering tone gave me goosebumps.

"There are countless stories of oddities overflowing on the internet, but most of them are fake. Real ones, though, they have a scent that cannot be hidden."

Something hot bubbled forth from the bottom of my stomach at those words.

Having a psycho believe you isn't really something to be pleased about, but I was, to be frank, happy that there was someone that would finally listen to the source of my fears. Indeed. That place is real. I was in shambles already, as the bottom of my shoe had been carved into.

"Hey, what is that? Is it a ghost? Are you the type that can see them? What do you mean by having a scent that cannot be hidden?"

I couldn't stop myself from blurting out questions, and Yoishi stared at a glass of orange juice as she flatly answered.

"First question first. It may not be a ghost."

"What?"

"Next question. It's not that I can see everything. Final question. A feeling. Real abnormalities always have a strange sense of not-fitting-together."

Yoishi switched out of her previous, dazed posture and began talking.

"Strange phenomena happen. People related to it become afraid. When you investigate, you find out that someone committed suicide there -- I won't say that such neatly-placed-together stories are all fake. However, the real, fun ghost stories surpass such things. There's a feeling, as if something important has been skipped over. Being able to fill in the gap is the single theory of the other side."

"In- in other words, what? What is that eerie sound that keeps happening at my house? Why are numbers being written, and why are they always going down? What happens to me when the numbers run out--"

I'd subconsciously stood up as I shouted.

"-- What's going to happen to me!?"

The store went silent, and everyone was looking at me.

Embarrassed a bit, I sat back down. However, I couldn't figure out what was going on. I didn't know what to do anymore. I was a bit ashamed of myself, and scratched my head, when Yoishi quietly mumbled.

"You are the one that posted that."

I looked up, and Yoishi's cold, dark irises were mysteriously glimmering.

I nodded, and explained what had just happened.

That "四" had already arrived, and that it had been carved onto the bottom of the sneakers I had been wearing myself. I explained that while trembling.

"How does someone carve that? Did something possess me all the way from home?"

I was almost in tears when I asked -- and then I recoiled.

Yoishi's eyes, which were once like glass beads, had seemed to harbor life.

And then, she suddenly placed a finger to my nose, and said.

"Hey, close your eyes."

"Huh?"

Her pretty face peered into me, gazing into my eyes. Her face had come so close to me that, to be honest, my heart started racing.

"Why do I have to close my eyes?"

"Just do it."

My heart thumping, I did as she said. I closed my eyes tightly. It felt like some inappropriate imagination had drifted in, so I frantically warded that away.

"Imagine."

Her lips seemed to move at the back of my eyes, commanding.

"You are standing at the entrance of your house."

Her frosty, yet somewhat kind voice forced me to stand before my house.

"As detailed as you can, imagine yourself standing at the entrance of your house."

As if controlled by those words, I imagined myself standing in that house in the darkness.

Black -- the sharp image of that mountain cottage.

The reddish-brown roof, the mountain cottage, the atelier that an architect had built for himself. The walls were faded in a nice fashion, and covered by vines to the second floor, the white paint had slightly chipped off of the wooden window sills. The first floor was all a garage, and the second and third floors were built as living quarters. It had no kitchen, my rented house of 30000 yen. And at night, it began making a strange sound, and the next morning a number would be carved somewhere--

My legs began trembling, but I held them down with my hands.

"Alright. When you've imagined it, place your hand on the doorknob."

"... Alright."

"Now, open the door."

I opened the door. My shoes were sprawled out on the foyer. When I'd rushed out of the house, I'd kicked the leather shoes out of the way. But my feet refused to go further. I felt someone in the house, even though no one should be in it. The thick, sticky air seemed to make me feel that way. No. I didn't want to step forward, even if this was just my imagination.

Seemingly noticing my emotions, Yoishi said, whispering.

"Don't worry. Slowly move in. Take of your shoes as usual, and step in. When you step in, I don't care what order, but open every window in your house. Neatly, one by one, without leaving a single one."

... Window? Why windows?

I thought that, but I heeded her. I went by the window in the living room, unlocked it and opened it. And then from there to the Japanese-style room I was using as a bedroom. I unlocked and opened the window. Then from the Japanese-style room to the bathroom. Opened. To the bath. Opened. Then I progressed to the third floor. There were two on the third floor: by the veranda and next to my desk. I unlocked and opened both.

"... I'm done."

"And now, close the windows in reverse order."

"... Huh?"

"Close them in order from the last one you opened."

Having no other choice, I did as she said.

The window on the third floor by the desk. Veranda. Then down to the second floor, and uhh, the bath, toilet, Japanese-style room, living quarters.

I closed them all.

"Yes, done. Now open your eyes."

Said Yoishi's voice, and I opened my eyes and the light from the bright, fluorescent lamps flooded into my eyes. I had paid no heed to them before, but the bright pop music from within the store also came into my ears. Right, this was a family restaurant. I rubbed my eyes strongly, when Yoishi asked me.

"How was it?"

"What do you mean how was it, what was the point of this?"

"Was there anyone in the rooms?"

My hairs stood at those words.

... There was.

That was on the landing on the stairs between the second and third floors. A middle-aged man wearing ashen-colored clothing seemed to have been there. immobile, with an empty-ish face, he watched over my every action with his staring eyes. I could never look straight at him, but he was always appearing at the edge of my sight--

"... There was, wasn't there?"

Yoishi's black eyes dazzled with some sort of happiness.

"Was it someone you know?"

"... I don't know. I'd never seen him before."

No... could that be? To imagine someone that I'd never met before. That house still remained thick within my mind, as Yoishi's joyful voice echoed through the image.

"Scared?"

I looked, and Yoishi had come close enough to me that I could feel her breath.

"Hey, are you feeling scared right now?"

... Scared.

Or rather, your eyes that look like they'll eat everything scare me.

"Tell me more. What kind of person?"

I took a deep breath, and explained as I tried to stop myself from trembling.

A gray, worn suit. I didn't remember a necktie. The suit seemed a bit big, but that may have been because the man was thinned. He had white hair, and I couldn't remember the face. The hair was grown a bit long, without any care. He wore black shoes.

And Yoishi was rubbing her chin, going hmm.

After some silence and glancing about at nothing with her eyes, she looked at me once more.

"Hey, how about we go?"

"-- What?"

"To your house. Now."

3[edit]

Ahh, why did this happen?

It was a night with a beautiful moon. And I was dangerously pedaling the mamcycle.

I passed through the residential area to the north of the train station near the family restaurant, then continued west along the grooved river. The grooved river was called Shimokawa and was one of the rivers that flowed into the Tamagawa waterworks. This river gradually curved northeast, and headed toward the area I lived. Every time my bike bounced off the bumpy road, Yoishi's body pressed against mine as she sat behind me. I could feel the slight inflation of her breasts on my back through my jersey, and every so often I had misplaced thoughts of how we looked like a nice couple.

However, what was hanging onto my back was a psycho girl dressed entirely in black. Her arms wrapped around my waist were oddly cold. Aren't girls supposed to have a higher body temperature? Like, soft, warm, and with a nice scent. However, I could hardly feel any heat from Yoishi, who was sitting at the rear of the seat of my bicycle. If it were to turn out that only I could see her, I wouldn't even be surprised. That's how far away from a date this night-time bicycle rendezvous was.

The residential area became distant, and in its stead came fields. The city lights became dim, and it felt like the number of stars increased, and the scent of grass became stronger. We were much closer to my home.

"Quite rural."

"Shut it."

That was my response to Yoishi's line, after some period of quiet.

"I don't mean it in a bad way. I didn't realize Musashino still had such a place."

"That's why I figured the rent would be low."

I vented a bit of my feelings of self-deprecation.

Houses became very scarce, and after passing by several old temples, we entered an area dense with trees. By following this narrow path, we would arrive at that house.

"To be honest, I don't want to go at night."

When I said that behind me.

"It only happens at night, so we should go at night."

Yoishi readily replied. A very sound argument.

For a while we remained wordless, until Yoishi asked.

"What was your wish?"

"Huh?"

"Because you're painstakingly living in 'the house that grants wishes,' aren't you?"

Painstakingly, or rather I just had no money.

"Nothing special. I hoped that my family's business would go well, that's all."

I answered.

"Surprisingly, you think of your family."

Yoishi commented without giving any trace of emotion.

Surprisingly is pretty harsh, I began replying, but then we saw that house beyond the black forest.

"That."

"Yeah."

Looking over it again, I was amazed at how I rented such a house. Looking at it now, no matter who looked at it, it looked completely like a haunted house.

As I slid the mamcycle into the first-floor garage, Yoishi jumped off the rear seat of the bike. When she pressed the switch on the steel column, the light on the ceiling of the garage turned on. That was all it took to reduce my fear. Yoishi began walking about on her own, looking at the building from several angles.

"A magnificent building."

She said, and then she began walking ahead of me. She climbed the stairs to the entrance on the second floor. Not having any other choice, I placed one foot on the stairs, but could go no further. As for Yoishi, she quickly climbed the stairs, opened the door without permission, and glanced inside. Ahh, right. Now that I think about it, I flew out without locking the door. That means I'd left it unlocked for several days, which was very careless of me.

I was just looking up from the bottom of the stairs. It was pretty shameful, but I'm the one that experienced the fear. I'd say it's perfectly normal for an animal to not want to get any closer unless safety is ensured.

"How is it?"

"Dark."

Well of course.

And with that, Yoishi quickly went inside. I was afraid of being left at the bottom of the stairs, so I rushed after Yoishi. When I opened the entrance door, the inside was already lit with electricity. Yoishi stood straight next to the lamp switch, glancing around from the ceilings to the walls. Light is great. I felt calmed just by it being bright to the point of not knowing whether those creepy happenings were reality.

When I was about to take off my shoes at the foyer, I saw that Yoishi's knee-high boots had already been taken off neatly. She may surprisingly be well-to-do, I thought, but then it struck me.

That come to think of it, we hadn't even properly introduced ourselves.

"Hey, it's belated, but."

I turned toward Yoishi and said.

"I go by 'Nagi' online. My real name is Yamada Nagito. I'm a freshman at university this spring."

She didn't turn around; she nodded and then said.

"I'm Yoishi."

"Isn't that a handle?"

"Wrong. My surname is Mitsurugi. Not that it matters."

-- Mitsurugi, Yoishi.

She continued being odd. She used her real name online, and then didn't care for her surname.

"'五' was on the wall of the toilet?"

However, as if to say that it was a waste of time, she asked that, and so I pointed to the far end of the second floor. Yoishi silently went there. Without hesitating, she opened the door, turned on the light, and peered in.

I quietly followed.

"Right? It looks like the letter '五' right? It's not a schema, right?"

I said to Yoishi's back.

"You know of words such as schema?"

She replied, as if being condescending.

"Well I mean I am an occult maniac."

That was a lie. It was information I just received.

"In a state where you've received a specific set of information, when you see a meaningless figure, your brain follows the information to create a suitable schematic-- that is schema in cognitive science, but this is without a doubt '五.' Even I see it that way."

Yoishi said, not caring for my words, as she traced her fingers over the engraving.

Well, it wasn't like determining that it wasn't schema solved anything. If anything it made things worse. If this was truly a deliberately-written '五', then someone wrote that in this house -- or rather, something, and that was in the house.

"'六' was near the bath?"

Having finished observing '五' Yoishi went across the hall to the bathroom with the toilet, turned on the light, and opened the door. She placed her face right next to the symbol engraved into the window sill. When I followed behind Yoishi, I smelled something odd.

Truth be told, it'd been bothering me since I met Yoishi -- but now that I was in an enclosed space with her it'd become clear.

"... are you wearing some sort of perfume?"

Yoishi wordlessly shook her head.

"No, but you, this smell..."

And then I realized what that smell was.

I'd smelled it in rooms during middle school.

A sour, nose-curdling smell, as if something was rotting.

"... Um, I totally understand this is a rude thing to ask a girl."

I pinched my nose as I asked.

"When did you last take a bath?"

And then Yoishi turned around and looked at me quizzically. And then she looked at the ceiling. And when she seemed like she was searching through distant memories, I had a bad feeling.

"W... you have to think about it?"

"I don't quite remember, but maybe last month?"

"W- what the hell! Take a bath! A bath!"

"This is, a bathroom."

"That's not what I mean! Do you not take showers? Clean your hair?"

"What does that have to do with this number going down?"

Yoishi seemed completely bewildered as she asked me, but come on, I'd heard about dirty girls, and I know French royalty were famous for never taking a bath, but this is contemporary Japan. Do high school girls that don't take a bath for a month exist?

"What you say lacks reason."

She said flatly, and then peered closely at the window sill again.

"It is without a mistake, '七'."

And then she turned around and asked, how about '七'? She, really, had no interest in anything other than the paranormal. I sighed, and helplessly guided her.

That was on the landing toward the third floor.

That was where the middle-aged man I didn't know was standing during the suspected-association game Yoishi had made me play earlier. I didn't want to follow her there, so I just gestured "over there." Yoishi wordlessly climbed the stairs, and then leaned toward the wall.

"Hmm."

"That looks like '七' too, right?"

However Yoishi didn't immediately answer, instead taking a mini-light from her pocket, shined it at the letter 'Template:color text="七" c="red"', and looked all around it.

"Is something wrong?"

"This is certainly '七' but -- odd."

What's odd, I was about to ask.

Suddenly, Yoishi vomited. She didn't do anything cute like place a hand to her mouth in an effort to hold it back, but rather standing tall with her arms folded, she boldly vomited, which definitely made me take a step back. Used to vomiting. That's how it seemed, and I completely saw it through.

Dripping vomit.

Sparkling intestinal fluid, and the remnants of the orange juice she'd been drinking.

-- What was with her?

Doesn't take baths, takes vomits out in the open.

And loves the occult, and wears coats during the spring, a psychotic girl.

However, I finally noticed that the psychotic girl did seem to be struggling a bit.

"Hey, are you alright?"

I ran to her and began rubbing her back, and she powerlessly nodded, then wiped her mouth.

There was vomit on the landing, but she resumed conversing as if nothing had ever happened.

"I thought it was strange since when you wrote your post. I wonder why the countdown began from 七."

"Huh?"

"Normally countdowns should start from 十 (10) or 九 (9)."

"How should I know?"

I mean, ghosts are scary because you don't know what they're thinking. How would a human like me know why something like that began counting down from "七"?

"Wrong. The paranormal have no rules, but the other side has intentions as befitting of the other side."

Yoishi said as she climbed the stairs. I had no choice but to follow.

As if to say there must be an "八" and a "九" somewhere, Yoishi turned on the lights to the third floor and began peering at the walls. Her posture, as she crawled about on all fours, scampering along the walls, was both creepy and comical. Afterwards, Yoishi began mumbling to herself and didn't respond to me, so I gave up and went back to the second floor. I poured water from the sink next to the toilet into a bucket, and threw a rag in. After all, this is my house, and while I couldn't forget the hollow face of the middle-aged man I saw at the family restaurant, I tried not to think about it, and cleaned up the vomit.

Ugh, why does vomit smell so bad. Somehow it always entices you to vomit, too. And it was irritating that the one who vomited seemed to not care at all. As if it was obvious that it would be my job to clean after her.

"Hey, do you not eat? There's only liquid in this."

I said with a bit of a nasty tone, but Yoishi, who'd come back down from the third floor, simply mumbled that there was no "八" or "九" anywhere. I snapped at her totally depressed reaction.

"I said there was none!"

But she ignored my comment and began looking at the walls on the second floor. Half-exasperated, I watched over her as I went down to the second floor with the rag and bucket. Then, I looked at the clock, and asked her, hey.

"Are you alright being out at this hour?"

Of course, that was pretty belated, given that it was almost 3AM.

If I were her parents, I'd be beside myself with anger.

"I hope you called home before coming out at this hour. I mean I know it's my fault this is happening, but parents are always worried. I always thought my parents were annoying when I was at home, but once you go away you feel gracious for it."

However, she wasn't listening to my lecture.

I noticed that she was completely immobile, staring at a single point.

"What is it?"

I asked, but Yoishi didn't move. She stood still, frozen like a mannequin. I stood behind Yoishi and looked where she was looking.

That was where Yoishi had vomited -- and was exactly where the middle-aged man was standing, in my imagination that I only knew about.

"W... wait a second. Who're you doing a staring match with."

When I placed a hand on her shoulder, she twitched, as if a curse had been lifted.

And then she whispered, ever so softly, "I see."

When she turned around, her face was filled with joy. I could tell by the slight blush creeping into her pale face that she was excited.

"Hey, did you notice?"

"What?"

But Yoishi didn't respond, instead turning on her heel and heading toward the foyer.

"H... Hey, hey, wait."

"Let's get out."

She quickly put on her deep, black boots, and then walked straight out of the entrance. I hurriedly put on my sneakers and chased after her. I tried not to look inside as I turned off the light, closed the door, and remembered to lock it this time. I stuck close by Yoishi as she staggered down the stairs..

When we walked near where the mamcycle was parked inside the garage, Yoishi looked up at the building once more, and said,

"This building is very interesting."

"What're you talking about?"

"Under the stairs to the third floor. There's a meaningless space."

That moment, I felt a chill travel down my spine.

I see--

The eeriness that I'd felt all along about this house, I finally understood it. Indeed, it had always felt like something was odd about this house. And that was the area under the stairs which I could never reach. You couldn't enter the space under the stairs from either the outside or inside of the house. You hear about places that don't open sometimes. This was similar in that we didn't know what was inside.

"And, look at this."

Yoishi pointed at the mailbox by the stairs in front of the first floor.

My full name was written on a piece of paper the size of a business card, and three lines had been carved in, as if to overwrite my name.

It was -- unmistakable.

"三" (three). The countdown continued.

Yoishi placed her face almost right onto the engravings and mumbled happily, "this place is real," but I said with a hollow voice.

"I'm at my limit."

Fall[edit] 4[edit]

The new apartment was fantastic.

The pretty, cleaned flooring. The new wallpaper. The sterilized unit bath.

It wasn't right comparing it to that house, where the previous inhabitant's remnants drifted everywhere, but I definitely learned that it wasn't right to skimp on housing expenses. This was even further from the university, but houses were nearby. I could walk to a convenience store, and there were plenty of streetlights. This apartment, which was brightly lit even at night, was introduced to me by Karasu.

From what I heard, one of Karasu's acquaintances was the landlord for this apartment, and she was renting a room here too. It annoyed me a bit that the room was simply a warehouse (a place to put paranormal cursing equipment apparently) for her, but I couldn't complain. Rent rocketed to 50000 yen, but it was six tatami 1K with a loft and a unit bath, so it was extremely cheap for the area.

It had been one week since I looked at that paranormal house with Yoishi.

Right after noon on a Sunday, on a rare day with no part-time work and no lectures--

I opened the window and took in the comfortable breeze as I sprawled out in the empty room.

The previous week had passed by quickly.

First, I cried to my big sister and borrowed some money, and immediately moved here. I didn't want to enter that house ever again, and it was expensive having to hire people, but it was worth it. Furthermore, this apartment's walls were so thin that you would almost instinctively want to pick up your neighbors' ringing phones, which made it feel like you were among living people, and you could greet people in the hallways, and if you opened the windows you could hear the lackadaisical voice of the bamboo pole merchants. Basically, this place was overflowing with life. For me, that was extremely important. As I'd been drained of mental energy to the extremes, I required the comfort of living amidst people.

I never met Yoishi again.

That night, I gave her a lift to the family restaurant and parted ways. Everything about her was a mystery other than the fact that she was a high school student and that her real name was Mitsurugi Yoishi. I spoke with her a bit as I escaped to the train station, but I never found out what was going on with that house. She didn't try to explain, and I wasn't in any hurry to ask.

However, I had a strange conviction that something bad was there. Every night, I heard something eerie, and I even ate a countdown, but mostly I believed it because of Yoishi's one phrase: "this place is real." That this was not a place I could deal with. I immediately thought that. If you think about it that way, she was why I was able to make the decision to place myself in such a peaceful place, but--

It was true what they say, that when the blade is no longer to your throat, you regain your curiosity.

Now that it was all in the past, I was truthfully somewhat curious.

What did she notice?

What was the countdown?

What is Yoishi anyways? It was hard to explain, but she seemed different from just an occult maniac. It wasn't like she was getting a thrill out of coming close to danger, but rather, she seemed to have no instinct telling her to avoid dangerous areas -- in other words, it was hard to explain her as anything but someone wanting to die. Whenever she said something, I felt like the world I believed and lived in was about to crumble apart.

Sometimes I would take a peek at "Ikaigabuchi," but Yoishi never appeared in a thread.

And of course, no one reacted to the thread I'd started, and it'd been buried deep to the point where I didn't want to revive it. Krishna descended upon various threads, but he never touched on my or Yoishi's case. That was real, I wanted to write, but I had no means of proving myself, and I myself felt fuzzy about it, so I kept myself to an ordinary life.

Indeed -- daily life continued.

An increased living expense and an abundance of light and heat. My scholarship was insufficient, so I began working part-time at an Italian restaurant near the train station. I wanted to pay back the moving funds that I'd borrowed from my big sis too, so I started working whenever I had no lectures. My city survival began as I worked myself to exhaustion and flung a tired smile everywhere.

A week flew by, and it was that sort of day.

My first university lecture in a while had just ended, and I was stuffing my textbooks into my bag, when I realized a girl I recognized was staring at me.

She was short, yet her breasts were big enough to notice through her clothing. Her hair was cut straight like a 1, and her face resembled that of a young middle-schooler, matching her red-framed glasses.

"Who's that?"

I stared right back at her, and she cleared her throat once and then came over.

She started taking something out of her pocket, then put it back. I saw that it was some sort of paper. She walked to me, standing straight and still, and in the end, never took out that piece of paper. She had a bit of a vexed expression as she glared at me (although her babyish face made it lose its bite), and then clicked her tongue and then turned away.

"H- hey, hey."

I couldn't stop myself from calling out to her.

"What do you want, speak up."

The straight-haired girl turned back around and said, "Idiot."

"I- idiot?"

Despite being mild-mannered, I wasn't one to stand being insulted by a girl I'd never met before.

"Why are you being so rude? What's your name? What grade are you?"

I asked, but she simply snapped back, "Shut up."

"It's your fault to begin with."

And then she pointed her small index finger at me.

"It's because of scum like you that these things keep happening like this. Learn your place, fool."

"Fool? You..."

After that, she rapidly asked me.

"Do your shoulders ache? Do your ears ring? Are you able to sleep at night?"

Was she some sort of doctor's apprentice? Did this university even have a medical college?

While I was bewildered, the girl finally pulled out the piece of paper from her pocket. She stuck it under my nose. I had no time to take it, as she ran off like a rabbit, and by the time I picked it up, she had already left the classroom.

"... the hell was that?"

No one was left in the classroom by then, so I looked at the piece of paper I held.

It was like a handmade business card.

It just read--

"Beatnik Research Club President - Kurimoto Shina"

And had the location of the Beatnik Research Club situated on the western wing.

That night, I saw a dream.

In my dream, I was still living in that house.

The old three-story mountain cottage by the river bank.

There, I was looking at myself. It was like I'd spiritually departed from my body and was floating in space, and was gazing upon "me" living my life. The "me" down there showed no signs of noticing me, and continued living normally. It seemed I was watching a bit of the past. "I" was living carefree, as I hadn't learned of the fear of the noises at night. ////Hey, come on, stop with this house////, I wanted to tell him, but as a person just drifting in a dream, there was nothing I could do. All I could do was observe.

Eventually, I noticed that Yoishi was sitting next to "me." The two of us were sitting together on the old sofa I'd picked up after moving. The two of us didn't speak to each other, instead just going on with our lives individually. "I" was yawning as I watched a TV, while she was just quietly reading an old book.

It was just a dream so it was free to make up any situation it wanted, but I still thought it was odd. However, I also accepted that if I were to live together with her, neither of us would really interfere with the other.

Eventually, the "me" down there got bored of the TV, and proceeded to stretch, wash his face, and brushed his teeth. "I" thought about studying a bit, but instead, "I" just immediately went to sleep. As I observed myself as an outsider, I realized that I was a pretty boring person. I boasted that I would turn the fortunes of my family's lumber business that was downtrodden, and had departed Shizuoka in opposition of my father and big sister, failed to get into the seminar I wanted, and wandered occult sites. Plus I hadn't even written a single letter to my mother, who I'd promised to send letters to after coming to Tokyo. Finally, I'd moved into a haunted house because of the low rent, and run into a psychotic girl. I wanted to slap myself.

As I sighed and glared, "I" quickly curled up in my bedroom. Even though Yoishi was there, it seemed I could not see her, as I turned off the light. Yoishi seemed to notice the light had gone off, as she closed her book and stared off into space.

I'd floated down to Yoishi, thinking I'd turn the light on for her.

"It's about time."

I had a bad feeling from Yoishi's words.

And then -- in the darkness, with only moonlight illumination, I heard that sound.

From somewhere, the sound of something being scraped.

An ominous melody ringing across the border connecting this world and the other.

As if something was trying to crawl out of a sealed dimension, as I heard that sound, my body slowly froze. It was like watching those supernatural shows on TV, where they set up a camera in rooms that ghosts are rumored to appear.

This dream, isn't it bad?

I need to wake up as soon as possible.

Because, if I stay here like this--

I would see the "something" that was engraving numbers into this house.

I frantically tried to wake up. I waved my limbs around trying to touch something, but I could not wake myself from the dream. It was like my body had been caught by some black hand seeping out of a different world. Feeling the despair of having been locked into a room with no exit, within the dream, only my panting echoed -- and suddenly I found myself next to Yoishi.

On the old, leather sofa, Yoishi and I were embracing each other.

As if I were trying to stain both of my palms with Yoishi's body temperature, I played with her body. That was my wish, and yet, it wasn't. I mean, of course I had some interest in girls as a simple eighteen year old boy, but my lusting wasn't this twisted. I wasn't the type to release my sexual lusts by turning myself into an unseen existence. I was pretty sure I had that much reason in me, anyways.

However -- Yoishi showed no signs of fear.

If anything, she was in a state of ecstasy. Her expression was dangerous. I felt my reason making sounds as it broke apart. I licked Yoishi's skin. I groped her breasts through her clothes. I lusted over her soft body with the tips of my fingers. I pulled up her long skirt, showing her white thighs. Yoishi's eyes were barely open. Her lips were slightly parted, and I could see her white teeth. Stop. Stop. Stop. I screamed from within my body, but I couldn't restrain my abnormal, extreme lusting.

However, the moment I placed a hand on her white wrists--

I almost screamed. My arms were not ones I'd become accustomed to seeing, but rather were long and thin, if anything like that of an aged man. Those sleeves were gray and worn. I was wearing an old suit. I felt like I faintly smelled some cologne. I stretched out my trembling arms and felt my face, my nose, my lips. And what I felt was, hideously, not mine. It was definitely that of someone else -- and I knew whose it was.

Him.

That man existing at the edge of my vision. And finally my face tilted against my will. My face pointed toward the window ahead, toward the moonlight -- and my eyes locked with the man covering Yoishi.

That instant--

I lost consciousness.

Along with incredible trembling, I woke up.

It was my new apartment with the abnormally bright lighting from the lamp.

To my side was a coffee table with the empty box of the convenience store meal I'd just eaten, and an unfinished bottle of oolong tea. Near my pillow, textbooks and notebooks for university had been tossed about. There was a cheap curtain between me and the sash to the small veranda, and it swayed a bit from the night breeze coming through a gap in the sash.

I breathed deeply.

My heart was still pounding.

I came home from work, ate a bit and then had fallen asleep.

Fuck off with scaring me. I felt malice towards no one in particular and grabbed the bottle. I gulped down the third or so that was left of the oolong tea. I felt incredibly thirsty, and even the lukewarm oolong tea tasted delicious. When I finished, I felt a bit calmer, and I scratched my hair as I exhaled sharply.

"... Calm down. Just a dream. It was just two weeks ago. It's not surprising to have some fear still in my heart. That's why I saw that dream, that's all."

I mumbled to myself in an effort to persuade myself, but my heart didn't stop pounding. I could still feel Yoishi's soft body in my hands.

Then I realized that something was ringing in my head.

It was like a phone from next door, like a cell phone in my pocket was still ringing, a quiet, but definite warning sound. What... what's bothering you. I looked around. New white wallpaper surrounded me, and there was just a spacious, vacant room that I hadn't been able to fill with furniture. Nothing had changed between before and after I'd slept. However, the bell inside my head kept ringing.

"What is it?"

I stood up and looked around the room again. There was nothing out of the ordinary. The aftereffects of a scary dream were just bothering me, that's all. I was trying to think that when I noticed it. Next to the wall was a ladder leading to a small loft. The lighting for the loft was different, so it was slightly dark there. Just then, I felt something cold travel down my spine.

Why did I pick a place with a loft?

That dark area, where it felt like someone might jump out at me from, gave me bad thoughts. However, it felt like the warning inside me was directed straight at the loft. I mustered the courage to look up, and the warning sound grew louder. I swallowed once, and turned on the light to the loft next to the ladder. I placed a foot on the ladder, climbing it one step at a time. And then, I willed myself to look into the loft.

Of course, there was no one in the loft. The only thing there was a cheap sleeping bag I'd bought instead of a blanket, and a number of books that were scattered about.

"Hahah."

I breathed with relief, and was just about to climb back down, when I noticed it. On the other side of the sleeping bag, at the furthest wall, I saw something. Wounds. Two lines had been violently drawn.

I screamed a silent scream as I tumbled from the ladder. I made a loud sound as my knee and shoulders struck the ground but I didn't care. Somehow I managed to grab my wallet and cell phone, and I jumped out of the door.

Not lines. Those weren't lines -- that was..

"二" (2). The number "二."

I had even moved -- but the countdown continued.

I jumped into the night city and ran to a convenience store in search of light. As I ran, I tapped at my cell phone, accessing "Ikaigabuchi." And then I looked at the forum from end to end. I didn't care if it was Karasu or Suu or Yoishi or anyone. I desperately looked for someone I knew. And then I saw it. In a thread titled "Mysterious dimension ☆ 2, a mere thirty minutes ago, "Yoishi" had posted. Ignoring the serious discussion of how to see [no Kagami] at the Koutaijinguu, I posted there.

"Hey, Yoishi. Help me!"

The occult maniacs who had their debate interrupted laughed at my spontaneous post, but I ignored them.

"Yoishi! You're reading this aren't you? Talk to me. He's still following me."

But, of course, Yoishi never answered, and it just angered the Isejunguu maniacs. Even after reaching the convenience store, I looked around "Ikaigabuchi" while I was in the parking lot. I tried writing in places that Yoishi might find interesting. To contact me immediately. But maybe I'd posted too often, because the entire forum rose up in arms calling me a spammer. If I got banned, I'd have trouble contacting her, so I started responding, "No, I'm not a spammer. I'm seriously in trouble!" but people just coolly responded that that was spamming. Eventually, others began calling me "wannabe" and I got pissed off and shouted at them "you scum occult maniacs" and the flames continued. It was like 100 vs 1 as the flames continued being spat. Right as I was feeling like the world was against me, and I was about to slam my phone against the ground:

"Are you Nagi?"

Someone wrote that.

When I looked at the name, it said "Krishna."

That name was like a miracle descending upon me, and I almost crumbled to the ground. I tried to type a response, but my fingers were trembling too much.

As I struggled like that, Krishna posted again.

And--

It said.

"Come to the place written on the card I gave you this afternoon."

5[edit]

It was past 2AM.

I'd left my bicycle behind, so I plodded my wait to the university on foot.

Of course, the front gate was closed, and the security guard looked at me suspiciously. In an effort to escape from that look, I took a wide arc and then went along the fencing toward the line of Zelkova trees on the left. After you walk a bit here, you get to the western wing, which housed the Beatnik Research Club room.

"Kurimoto Shina -- Krishna."

I was so careless.

I noticed nothing.

That the administrator of "Ikaigabuchi" Krishna was a person who attended the same university--

And for that baby-faced girl to be Krishna was unimaginable.

I went straight to the furthest room, and was shocked when I entered. There were still some students inside chatting with each other. I felt a bit exasperated, as though this was some sort of never-night castle, but I guess this was just the way it was for students, and so I felt a bit embarrassed about myself still being afraid of ghosts. My feet felt heavy as I arrived at the Beatnik Research Club on the third floor, and I saw light on the other side of the smoked glass. I knocked on the door and heard a familiar voice, so I said.

"It's 'Nagi.' Yamada Nagito."

"It's open."

"Excuse me."

When I opened the door, I found myself facing an empty, concrete-walled room of about ten tatamis.

There was a single steel cabinet placed against a wall.

In the middle was a relatively large worktable.

And there were four seats placed around the table, and three people seated.

In the middle--

Was the baby-faced girl who'd given me a business card in my classroom.

The red-framed glasses were as odd as usual, but she was wearing what seemed to be a priestess outfit stained in black, had on a 3, and sat on a seat. This suited her too well. I had no interest in such types, but I could almost understand how people who liked lolis and people who liked cosplay felt, which was scary.

"Um, you, I mean, are you Krishna?"

I asked, and the girl made a disdainful face and nodded.

"I warned you to leave that house immediately."

"Huh?"

"Karasu told you nothing?"

"Nothing at all."

And then Krishna cutely clicked her tongue and said "well, come in."

I looked around the room again and -- next to the small occult site administrator was a woman who seemed to be in their late twenties and did not seem like a student wearing simple, white eastern clothing, and a bald, middle-aged man wearing monk attire who no matter what looked nothing at all like a student.

"Eh... huh... um."

I didn't know how to greet them, so I just stood bewildered at the entrance, and Krishna made a motion with her small chin to "sit there." I sat down on the chair that had been prepared for me, when the middle-aged monk stood behind me and grabbed my shoulders with his thick arms.

"Um... hey, what's going on?"

And then Krishna pushed her glasses up and asked.

"Why are you trying to see the other side on your own accord?"

And then she began lecturing me in a stern voice.

"Alright? As long as we don't look, they can't see us either. You can have interest in the occult. It's natural and unavoidable of people to have interest in things that are little understood. Still, the other side has the other side's business. To them, not being able to see does not count as an excuse. Even if yo ucan't see them, humans have enough power to be able to feel them. This is eerie, then immediately understand that there's something you can't see and pay it due respect."

In the face of her stern look, I the fool could understand.

"So, basically, I've been possessed."

I asked tearfully.

"At this rate you're pretty screwed."

Her expression became ever sterner, and I froze.

"Krishna."

Said a woman in white clothes. She had no make-up on, and held a strangely-shaped rosary in her hand.

"It's already gotten a bit inside."

... What? What inside?

"Can you pull it out here?"

"I'll try."

The two of them finished their strange conversation.

"Wait, Krishna. Who are these two?"

I asked as I tried to escape from the strong monk.

"Investigators for 'Ikaigabuchi.'"

Answered Krishna bluntly.

"Investigators?"

"I'll explain later. Just shut up and stay still."

"It's not use. The host isn't here."

I heard a female voice from far away.

"We have to go to that house."

"You're right."

The middle-aged man and Krishna's voice also echoed a bit, like a record that was losing some speed.

I'd begun to slump down. The monk was strong, but that wasn't the only reason. It was as if I had never noticed that I was on the verge of toppling over under extreme weight -- and as soon as I realized that, my body's senses frantically tried to show me the level of exhaustion I felt. I felt that sort of exhaustion, one that tried to sink me into a bottomless pit.

"You can't move? Then don't move."

Krishna said in a mysteriously kind voice, and then I lost consciousness.

To be honest, I don't remember much after that. I think I was loaded into a car. And then I think there was a lot of shaking. My consciousness came back because I felt a familiar sense of cold on my skin, one that seemed to want to wring me dry. My body was still heavy and my consciousness felt like mud, but my life instincts seemed to shout, this place is bad.

When I came to, I was in front of that house.

The middle-aged man was carrying me on his back, climbing up the stairs to the second floor.

-- No, no, I don't want to come here anymore.

I wanted to shout, but in reality I couldn't even move my fingertips. Not caring for my will, I was carried forth by the middle-aged man, and stood in front of the entrance to that house alongside Krishna and the white-clothed woman. Krishna easily opened the door. I thought I'd locked the door, but it opened without a key. Inside glowed an ethereal light.

"Who."

Said Krishna sharply.

I forced shut my resistant eyelids.

-- No. I don't want to see.

I didn't care who was inside, I didn't want to deal with anymore. I give up. I decided right there and then. If I were able to wake up safely tomorrow, I would go straight back home to Shizuoka. In the end, it was impossible for me to live alone in the demonic city Tokyo. I wanted to turn around the fortunes of my family business, and came to Tokyo to study for it, but I'm too much of a wuss to live alone. I'm better off living in the rural area surrounded by family and friends. My father and sister who opposed my decision were right, after all. Ahh, mother supported me but I felt apologetic toward her. But I tried. I tried my best. But these happenings, I couldn't expect them, and I could do nothing--

"Come inside and close the door."

Someone said, from inside the house.

I recognized that voice. Cold, clear, but somehow decisive.

"If you want to know what's to happen, then you should do that."

Right -- this voice.

"Yoishi."

My whisper echoed through the silence.

"Yoishi?"

Yoishi's lackadaisical voice saying "good evening" overlapped Krishna's incredulous voice.

"There was a spare key near the sewer entrance below, so I used that to come in."

"Let's go in."

At Krishna's voice, the middle-aged man entered the foyer while carrying me. And then he took off his shoes and continued to the living quarters. Krishna and the white-clothed woman followed behind. When I looked past the middle-aged man's shoulder, I saw Yoishi already sitting in the middle of the empty living quarters with a candle inside an empty can. The dim light came from that.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here."

Krishna sounded as if she were scolding, but Yoishi answered lackadaisically again.

"Quiet. If you brought that person here, then you too already understand what's going on in this house."

"Yoishi... I see."

Krishna groaned.

"You're 'Yoishi.' You're the child posting on 'Ikaigabuchi.'"

Yoishi continued her silence, but Krishna clicked her tongue and continued.

"I have no problem with you having interest in the occult. But having interest and actually tip-toeing the edge is different. You should realize that you're playing in a hazy boundary."

"No worries."

Yoishi flatly responded to Krishna's harsh tone.

"I have confidence only in that conviction."

... Wow. She's undeterred by this angry Krishna.

This is why girls are scary. My big sis was scary, too, and when mother snapped she was scarier than father.

However, Krishna sounded a bit lonely.

"I know -- I know. I've seen children like you before. That's why I say it. People who harbor expectations from the depth of the darkness, they always drag humans into the darkness, too, even if they don't mean to. That's -- extremely dangerous."

The middle-aged man slowly let me down from his shoulder and laid me by the wall in a sitting posture, and I had nothing to do but listen to their conversation. My powerless body felt like it was being dragged about, and I could only feel an endless sense of helplessness. What happened here, what's happening here, and what's about to happen here, everything was off the rail my life had been following. I could do nothing here. All I could do was listen to the creepy conversation, and be an observer to a creepy act. However, more than the desire to learn the true, my desire to run away was stronger. As soon as possible, I wanted to go out into a bright place.

"Krishna."

Just then, the monk stepped in between the two.

"It's started."

Along with his words, that sound began.

From somewhere in the building, that sound echoed.

.... scratch Scratch scratch scratch Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

As if overpowering everything, only that sound echoed. Scratch scratch scritch scritch, something was grinding together. Something was carving together. The sound was the loudest I'd heard. It was almost as if something was trying to crush this place from outside, and I frantically looked around. I was completely in tears, and only the creepy sound filled the world.

-- Please, stop. Forgive me.

As I started tearfully screaming, Yoishi said.

"Wonderful."

Her happy voice entered my ears, and I became enraged.

-- Wonderful, are you seriously insane? It's beyond sanity to sneak into a house with a ghost milling about using a single candle and just sit there. Ahh, I get it, you're that. You're like a friend of ghosts. Then great. Can you tell your friend to stop scaring me? I'm sorry for barging in on your house. But I didn't know. I cleaned up after myself and left so stop bothering me and go away. I mean, tell the friend to stop following me to my new place and giving me a countdown. I don't know what sort of grudge they have against the world but I'm completely unrelated so stop, tell them.

Of course, my body wouldn't move and neither would my mouth, but I begged Yoishi with my all.

However, Yoishi didn't understand my feelings at all.

"Hey, scared?"

I heard an inexplicable, hopeful voice in my ear. It seemed Yoishi had come right next to me, but I couldn't open my eyes. So I screamed at her with my soul.

-- Of course I'm scared. I'm super scared. My body won't move and I don't get it and some sound is echoing through my head and only psychos and ghosts are around me. Right, this house only has psychos now. A psychotic administrator that gathers and edits creepy articles, a psychotic woman holding some bizarre weapon despite being of age, some psychotic baldy who seems to only have muscle-building as a hobby. And you. A covered-in-black straight-frontal-hair psychotic girl. And there's some douche ghost that never shows itself but does annoying pranks like carve numbers. Seriously, cut that shit out. Are you all just enjoying your emergency offline meeting right now? You're all just waiting for me to pee my pants aren't you. Hey, come on. Cut it out. I was wrong. I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to see those numbers anymore. Next is "Template:color text="一" c="red"" (one), then what? What's next? I don't want to know. I mean if you're gonna kill me, just do it. Stop cornering me and shit.

-- However.

At some point, the sound had stopped.

My dark world, with my tightly shut eyes, had become filled with silence.

What? What? What happened--

I became worried that everyone had left, but I was also afraid that if I were to open my eyes something else would be there.

Still, I couldn't just stay like this. I was tired. I'd begun to feel reckless. If you're gonna kill me, kill me. I don't want to get cornered and hunted like this. Just give me a bad end already.

I opened my tearful eyes. But, I just saw a house, unchanged from before. And everyone was there.

Krishna stood in front of the door to the bedroom.

The white-clothed woman stood in the middle of the living room with her eyes closed.

The monk lingered by my side, and only Yoishi was looking at me with no emotion.

Everyone was standing at the same spot they were before I closed my eyes. I gazed with my teary eyes at Yoishi's eyes, and then she nodded. And then she looked down.

I followed her sight.

To my feet.

As if cutting across the space between my feet, a thick wound had been carved into the floor.

"U- uwaaaaah."

I screamed, and pulled my sluggish body away. But my hip wouldn't respond, and so all I could do was flail in place. However, I tried to scramble away anyways.

You know what's coming.

It was-- "一." (one)

"One. The end. I'm tired of this, I wanna go home. I wanna go back to Shizuoka."

"Calm down, Nagi."

Said Krishna. At some point she'd started calling me Nagi, but I didn't care as I tried to crawl away. I was too busy trying to flee from the number.

"No. What's the point of staying here? What's going to happen next? What's going to happen to me?"

"Get a grip, Nagi."

Krishna sounded again -- goddamnit it must be the monk. Some heavy impact struck my back. And after that, the white-clothed woman said something I couldn't understand. It was filled with strange rhymes I'd never heard before, countless words that made me head go insane--

But then as I frantically flailed about, a long, black skirt blocked my way.

It was Yoishi, dressed in obsidian, as always.

"Move."

I said with a trembling voice, but this time it was not glass beads, it was not glimmering, but rather, this time Yoishi had a fascinated look as she reached out with her hand.

"Give me that."

......... that?

"What you're holding, that."

She said, and I looked at what I held in my hands.

There was the key to the apartment. It was a key I'd left in my pocket. I was holding it backwards, and on the end of it was wood. For a while, I didn't know what it meant. And then the wood fell off, onto the "一" that had been cut ominously at my feet.

"Wha..."

-- No way.

-- No way, that.

"Yes."

Yoishi said in a whisper.

"The one that was carving numbers into this house, was always you."

With those words--

My consciousness was filled with white.

6[edit]

"In other words, it was a schema."

It was an evening, roughly five days later.

Krishna was talking to me in the Beclub room at the university.

"Or rather, a reverse schema. That house makes people uneasy."

Krishna and I were facing each other in the room, under the light from a pretty dawn.

"The house... makes people uneasy?"

I repeated like a fool, and Krishna nodded.

"In the past, 'Ikaigabuchi' investigated similar places too -- the structure of the building causes changes in the human psyche toward anxiety, there are actually a number of them around the world. Some of them turn into murder scenes, and others turn the people within into criminals. There's no actual scientific proof for the relation, but I'm of the opinion that they exist. People's minds, after all, are hazy things that you can easily manipulate into leaning one way or another."

"W- wait a second. What exactly do you mean?"

"Basically, that building wasn't built for people."

I felt something like a cold hand gripping my heart.

"I'll avoid saying the name here. But the architect of that building had actually received architecture awards during his time in university. People had high expectations of him."

Krishna was illuminated by the golden sunlight, and her straight, black hair glittered as she spoke in remembrance.

"He was supposedly a very serious person. Maybe too serious. He was the type of person that wondered what buildings are -- and he would lose sleep pondering that. He loved the joyful faces of the landlords so much, and worked and worked. However, he realized the futility that arose when one person asked him for another design, as he saw the house he'd put blood and soul into be demolished in the name of 'renovation.' Families changed. Preferences changed. It's unavoidable, as long as you're living, but he couldn't take it."

-- If you take care of it while living, it would last over a hundred years. -- Sometimes, people should suit themselves to the house.

"He left those words and is said to have vanished from his atelier one day. His family put out a search request, but no one could ever find him, and some years later he was effectively declared dead. That was over thirty years ago. That atelier was his final work, and had at some point been dubbed 'the house that grants wishes.'"

Krishna pointed out the third-floor window, toward the residential district.

"This country tossed aside countless traditions along with its Meiji-era cultural revolution. I'm of the opinion that one of those traditions was the house. Tiled roofs became scarcer of the years, and buildings that housed several generations became rarer. Mass production, mass consumption -- that was the era we'd entered. We weren't inheriting treasures anymore, believing instead that you could reset life every few decades. After all, that sufficed for supply and demand. But I think things that were important to the people of this country faded away more and more."

After I heard her words, I thought.

My father was saying the same.

It takes thirty years to grow a single, sturdy tree. And yet, the Japanese lumber industry found itself in danger of going out of business in the face of cheap lumber being imported. It wasn't that he was worried over his job. He was afraid that the idea -- that you could get an unlimited amount of cheap wood -- would become ingrained in the minds of the people of this country. In the past, people would pray to the gods of forests, would cut trees while offering thanks, and carefully built houses with them. Whenever they were rebuilding, they carefully tried to reuse wood whenever possible. Even on this earthquake-riddled island, [Houryuuji] had remained standing for a thousand years. The skill 0f the carpenters who understood the finest details and characteristics of wood in the day were, of course, amazing, but they also say that the graciousness toward the important offerings of nature was just as important.

I always agonized over having been born into a family whose business dealt with lumber.

Did I take care of buildings as I grew up? Did I ever think about the feelings of those who created the building? I was filled with emotions as I wondered if a day would ever arrive that "his" wish would come true, within this grand city where every day you could see the sites of reform or reconstruction?

According to Krishna, everything originated from the design of that house, which contained the intent of the architect. When an architectural friend of Krishna took a look, they noted that while it looked simple, it used extremely high-level techniques. They said that the groaning of the house was to give it durability against hurricanes and earthquakes, along with a bit of playfulness to deliberately make it groan.

"The meaningful space under the stair is the center-point of a sturdily built house. The kitchen, which gets abused the most, was deliberately omitted. The living quarters were deliberately designed to interfere with daily routine. It was certainly a house constructed for durability."

Krishna mumbled, as she pushed her red-framed glasses up.

"Normally, houses should revolve around the inhabitants, but not in this case. People naturally begin to feel like the house was built for something other than themselves, and that was enough to psychologically rattle people. So what happens when a boy who'd just recently come to Tokyo, who has no friends decides to live there?"

"So in other words, it had nothing to do with ghosts?"

"Indeed, you're much more mentally fatigued than you probably realize, having moved to a city alone. You may have felt fear at first, but you probably tolerated it. But eventually you reach a limit, and then what do people do?"

Krishna looked at me with her big eyes.

"They create a reason for escaping from fear."

"Creating, a reason?"

"Yes. They create a reason for the sounds. In other words, you were subconsciously carving numbers into the walls of the house at night."

"But--"

I was speechless, and Krishna leaned closer.

"Think about it, Nagi. Where does fear come from? It comes from the unknown. That's why people learn. They research inexplicable things to escape from fear. People's knowledge was born from effort devoted to escaping from fear. Cooking developed out of the fear of starvation, clothing developed out of fear of external temperature, and buildings and weapons developed out of fear of enemies. Everything began from human fears. You thought there was an inexplicable sound at night. However, no matter how much you searched the house, you couldn't find a reason for the sound. Of course. You'd have to know that the house was deliberately designed to make sounds, but you had no way of knowing. Then what do you do? You were cornered, so you created a reason for the sounds. In other words, a reverse schema."

Is that even possible?

No -- it had to be. Otherwise, how would the number "四" have been carved into the back of a shoe I'd been wearing all along? I was wearing it, so it had to have been me.

My lower body was trembling. It terrified me, the other self that acted irrespective of my will. Or rather, that I didn't understand myself.

"Well--"

Krishna sat back down and sighed.

"It was partly my fault for leaving a building like that alone, even though I knew it existed right near me. Sorry."

She said, as she bowed her head, which flustered me.

"No no no, stop that. It all started with me being greedy, because I wanted to skimp on living expenses and didn't immediately move out. Please raise your head."

I frantically said.

"Mmhmm, it was your fault."

She nodded.

"There are no shortcuts for granting wishes."

I could give no retort, and just groaned.

However, I realized there was one question that hadn't been answered.

"Hm, wait. Then why were the numbers counting down?"

And then Krishna shook her head, saying "who knows?"

"Huh? You don't know?"

I asked, and for some reason her big eyes glimmered with amusement.

"I don't know. I don't know, but I think you probably carved a cross on the wall."

"A cross? Not '七'?"

"Right, the number '十' (10). It's possible that it might not have been meant to be a number to begin with. It probably didn't matter to you. Your fear was alleviated by carving anything into the wall, to act as the source of the sounds. However, this is why this incident came forth, a little bit of coincidence. On the place you carved, there was from the start, out of pure coincidence, a scratch. Subconsciously, you'd remembered where you carved '十'. Yet when you woke up, it combined with the original scratch to create '七."' And that was what gave birth to something else inside you -- a 'ghost.'"

... Ahh.

So that's why I felt an incredible amount of anxiety when I first saw that number. The feeling of having encountered something far beyond my threshold, that I could not reason out.

"After that, you continued carving letters into the wall in accordance to the sound you heard after sleeping. The countdown was probably because of your subconscious desire. If the numbers went up, it would continue forever. You were probably hoping that it would eventually stop."

After that, Krishna had a bit of a mischievous look.

"But you're quite simple. If the countdown ended, you may have ended your life. I'm glad we made it on time."

And with that, she showed me a soft smile for the first time.

"Alright? If you've had enough of this, don't enter the world of ghosts out of curiosity. And as with living people, pay respect to all existences. That's the main motto of 'Ikaigabuchi,' after all."

And the Krishna who said that with complete seriousness matched the imagine I'd had of Krishna the person.

Although--

She had a more moe-character appearance than a big brother or father.

And with that, the complex, tangled thread had been solved.

According to Krishna, she'd realized that the building caused anxiety in the psyche of its inhabitants the moment I made my first post. In an effort to keep it under wraps, she had left it in Karasu's hands -- but Karasu was pretty careless to begin with and then became drunk, so the important message had not gotten across to me, which is why things had escalated to this point.

In any case, everything was solved, so that was good.

"I'll give you a warning, though."

As I was leaving the house, Krishna had told me.

"You don't seem to have much tolerance for this area. Maybe I shouldn't be saying it as an administrator for an occult site, but you shouldn't delve into the occult genre too much. Find friends in Tokyo with whom you can bond, get a girlfriend, and construct a proper, solid identity while you dabble in the occult as a hobby, that's the right way to do it. Especially -- avoid that girl named Yoishi."

... Which sounded about right.

As Krishna said, Yoishi was abnormal. She was, to put it frankly, like her feet were planted firmly on the other side. That was probably why those urban legends popped up over her odd level of concentration on the paranormal.

The sunset was extremely beautiful as I stepped out of the west wing.

The clear, orange color shone straight to my soul.

Dang.

I'd become easily moved by this incident, and almost came to tears just out of graciousness toward peacefulness. I hung on, willing myself against crying. There were a lot of students about, and a feeder high school was just on the other side of the gate to the west wing. There were a number of high school girls going home, too. I didn't want to embarrass myself as a university student.

But then--

I realized one of them was staring at me.

Her black hair was pretty, she had white skin, and was slender. Her uniformed figure was blinding, and just by standing, she looked like she was from a different world...

"Wait... what?"

I eventually realized that I recognized that girl, and couldn't restrain myself from running to her.

"Wait, are you Yoishi?"

And then girl turned her glass bead-like eyes to me.

"Oh, you."

Her sleepy response made me realize she wasn't looking at me.

Yoishi was wearing a school uniform, and perhaps as a fault of her looks, stood out. Even in such an appearance, she seemed distant from daily life.

"Hey, what a coincidence. You attend our feeder school? What year are you?"

I spoke to her with a full smile.

"That has nothing to do with you."

Yoishi's response was quite cold.

There was none of her bedazzled, vitality-filled look anymore that she had when looking upon the paranormal.

"I hadn't come to school in a while -- and I shouldn't have come at all."

She said with annoyance, and I noticed she didn't have the sharp smell from before. It seemed she'd taken a bath. Glossy hair, an ironed white blouse, a black tie. I narrowed my eyes as I gazed at the contrast from before, and said.

"Pretty good."

"What is?"

"Your looks, you look more clean, and your uniform suits you."

However, Yoishi turned her back to me, saying I was pathetic.

I intended to praise her, but it apparently just annoyed her.

"If it's nothing, I'm going."

She turned on her heel, and I hurriedly stopped her.

"You were staring over there, did you want something from Krishna?"

"-- Krishna."

She seemed to react to that word, as life seemed to return to her glass beads.

"I see -- 'Ikaigabuchi' is here."

Her response to the occult was pretty good.

I felt like I was being driven mad as I continued talking in that direction.

"I'm indebted to you a bit, too. I heard all about that house. I didn't know there were things like subconscious confusion over a building. Man, I freaked out a bit when I learned the truth."

I was probably on a high from having been released from my fears. I kept talking. I talked on and on. Everything I'd heard from Krishna, the truth about the incident. About the architecture of the house, about the will of the architect, and even about the problems of contemporary Japan.

However, Yoishi didn't react at all.

Without even glancing at me, she said that's good, and continued walking without any trace of emotion.

That made me feel a bit lonely, so I chased after her, bothered by her body language.

"What is it? You seem pretty depressed. Is there anything else on your mind?"

And when I said that, I remembered.

Come to think of it, that day, she said at that house.

"Have you noticed?"

... Right. What did she notice at that time?

I asked her, and she stopped.

And then she slowly turned around, and asked back.

"Do you really want to hear?"

I felt like those black, cold eyes would swallow me--

And I heard something inside my urging me to stop.

That I shouldn't learn any more, it warned.

"You can still turn back."

Said Yoishi.

"You know what they say -- if you peer from this side, they can see you, too."

Krishna had said that as well, and I felt goosebumps.

But--

I wonder why.

That moment, I had a bizarre sense of excitement. That I wanted to see the world as she viewed it. That I wanted to stand where she stood. That I wanted to know why her words always seemed to sway my world.

"I'll listen. Tell me."

When I said that, was I seeing things, or did Yoishi seem to have a slightly forlorn look?

However--

I would realize later that this was a fork.

A story about wading in the bizarre and grotesque, helpless darkness of man.

The boundary between that world and this world -- the journey around the "Ikaigabuchi" began this moment.

After a moment, Yoishi nodded and then began speaking.

"I was always wondering. What it was called 'the house that grants wishes.'"

"Why? Because--"

"The title lacks a subject. Whose wish?"

And those words gave me chills--

And I immediately began regretting my decision.

"That house isn't a house of hope. I just felt an incredible source of malice."

Yoishi whispered -- with the expression of a queen who'd been locked away in a dark castle along for a thousand years.

"The architect that had disappeared while loving strange buildings. The countdown that began with 'Template:color text="七" c="red".' The mysterious space under the stairs. The house that grants wishes. There's a single answer that ties everything together."

My goosebumps wouldn't go away.

What was she trying to say? What was about to show itself?

The girl Yoishi's dark eyes glimmered as she spoke.

"The architect is still inside those stairs."

"W... wait."

"Of course, he isn't alive. But then everything ties together. Why there's a meaningless space under the stairs. Why it became named the house that grants wishes. And why the numbers began with "七."

"Wait, it doesn't explain anything? It didn't start from '七,' because it was originally '十,' and I had just coincidentally written it over a scratch--"

"Wrong."

Her words twisted my world.

"You originally wrote '十.' You're right to that point. But there was never a scratch to begin with. Someone added a scratch and changed it to '七.'"

"Why... why can you say that?"

"I saw."

"What."

"That on top of your '十,' someone had added a scratch to make it '七.'"

"Then... then when Krishna said that there was no ghost in that house--"

And then Yoishi looked in the direction of the west wing with sadness.

"There's no better fortune than living with bliss."

... Hah.

"That is that person's kindness, and what I lack."

... Hahahah.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahah.

I was going to go mad if I didn't laugh.

"You're lying, aren't you? You're making this all up, aren't you? Or it's that. An occult story you'd read somewhere."

I laughed, praying that that was the case.

Yoishi gave me a sympathizing look, a grieving look.

"Everything's the truth. Because--"

I could no longer respond, and Yoishi quietly landed the final blow.

"When you were carried out, some man I'd never seen before was clicking his tongue on the stairs."

As the world spun around me--

Yoishi's cold, sweet voice reverberated.

"Welcome to the world on this side."

Chapter end