Phenomeno
/ Phenomeno Volume 1 Chapter 4-6
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 ☆ [], 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."
5It 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 "" (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"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 "
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 '
"Right, the number '
... 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 '.' 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 "
"Wait, it doesn't explain anything? It didn't start from '
"Wrong."
Her words twisted my world.
"You originally wrote '
"Why... why can you say that?"
"I saw."
"What."
"That on top of your '
"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
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