Editing Phenomeno:Case 03 (section)

===3===

In the afternoon, the temperature had already reached 35 degrees. The sunlight was hitting like a hammer today. It was scorching enough that it felt like my hair would burst into flames at any point. One a day like this, I thought, it was insanity to construct the pedestal to be used in the festival, but when I put on a towel around my head and joined, everyone was lively, I also got caught up in it and ended up joining them in the hectic work.

My town -- Nango Town, was one of the smaller ones of Fujieda City; but nevertheless, whenever this festival draws near, people gush out from nowhere and before you know it, the front of three mountain god shrine ends up being overflowed with people. The job of constructing the festivals’ pedestal is always given to the young men of the city, but like my sister said, it was said to be our family’s responsibility this year. But still, in actuality it was being done by all the guys from downtown who were free at the time. 

Today too, the front of the mountain shrine was crowded, in that crowd, I could see many nostalgic faces; at that time I would stop working, greet and have a deep talk with them. Everyone was wearing a smile on their faces. The old lady from the neighborhood who brought refreshments was also pleasant; being in this kind of atmosphere, it really made me realize that the festival was near.

“Yo, Nagi.” 

Being greeted from behind, I turned around to see Maru’s square shaped face.

“Seems like the pedestal has begun construction, it really feels like the festival is getting pretty close, eh?”

“That’s right” Wiping off my sweat with a towel. I inquired: 

“What about Ranbashi and Pei-chan?”

“They’ve got work in the afternoon; they may come in the evening.” Is that so? Come to think of it, among the lot that I used to hang out with in our high school days, only me and Maru-yan went on to higher studies. I went to a university in Tokyo; Maru-yan to a local technical school. His family owns a small restaurant; he too liked to cook so he decided to become a chef.

While recollecting such things, Maru-yan abruptly began to examine my expression. 

“Are you sleeping properly? You’ve got dark circles under your eyes”

“….Aah.” To be honest, I felt like I wasn’t getting enough sleep recently. I had pulled consecutive all-nighters during my exams, after that, I was seeing the dream with the mansion every night, Furthermore, searching with Yoishi in the dream day after day. By itself, the dream is a place where I can drift around comfortably, but she just wanders here and there going “It’s strange” or “How unusual”, saying creepy things like that and bringing me to tears even within a dream. Originally, my sleep time meant for me to rest but my brain had naturally become exhausting because of this.

However, Maru came to his own conclusions, and, smirking, commented, looking somewhere off in the distance: 

"Yeah, well, if I lived under the same roof with two hotties like that, I wouldn't be able to quit fantasizing either."

“What?..”

As I followed his gaze, I saw two girls vying for the title of Japan's most obsessed lover of the occult. Krishna-san, dressed in a pink t-shirt with a piglet on it, was helping out with catering preparations. Yoishi, on the other hand, was loafing about as usual, tight white blouse and black tie of her school uniform standing out against the picturesque countryside. 

“Are they staying for the festival?”

“I think so, since they didn't leave after the offline meeting.”

“So there's one more reason to look forward to it," Maru grinned.


“Say, is it alright if I visit you again today?” 

“Sure, but why?”

“For Yoishi and Krishna, of course. Pei-chan wanted to come too, and it seems that Ranbashi is also interested in Yoishi.”

“Listen, Maru-yan” I said sighing and putting down the lumber I was carrying. “Give it up. You don't want to mess with them, especially Yoishi.”

“Why?”

“She’s not normal. How should I put it? When you listen to her speaking, you’ll end up shaking and crying, or like the feeling of your soul leaving your body. “

When I spoke of her like that, I remembered…
*Yoishi is not a living human.
*Anyone who comes in contact with Yoishi will die in seven days.
*Anyone connected to Yoishi’s ghost stories meets a terrible end.
That is… just like those rumors spread on the internet about Yoishi in the past, they were just made up exaggerations…those words I had refuted in the past were not much different from what I had just said. I shook my head and corrected myself:

“No, In short… she just has taste in slightly different hobbies from the norm.”

“Well, that’s fine, city girls are like that, and I wanted to get to know someone who’s a little eccentric.”

It’s like this guy doesn’t get it all. Well, I wasn’t much different back then… I didn’t believe the rumors on the net either, up until I prowled around a haunted place with her. 

You’ll get cursed just by talking to her. If you meet her you die. Those kinds of rumors were spread because her speech had a strange pull. Like Kirshna san had said, her words contain things people shouldn’t know. But, I didn’t know how to explain that to Maru-yan who had no interest in the occult.

“Oh—Maru-yan” With long hair tied up like a pineapple, my elder sister appeared.

“Square faced as always”

“Oh, Thanks for the meal yesterday.”

“It’s fine, I had fun as well.” Saying that, with a whomp, my sister suddenly punched me in the gut. I buckled over instantly grasping for air. 

“Say Nagi. I’ve taken a liking…”

“T-to what…?”

“Krishna-chan, she’ll make a good wife, don’t you think?” She boasted while using the broom in her hand as a cane, she’s only twenty two still a bachelorette, yet she acts like an old village hag match maker nodding to herself. 

“That’s right? I’ve got to try, don’t you think?” said Maru-yan earnestly as if embarking on a new venture.

“You Idiot, A wife for Nagi here”.

“Why is that? This guy doesn’t seem to think like that”.

“Oh, is that so? Are you in the Yoishi faction then?” Staring in amazement, I waved my hands as if to say no.

“It’s really not like that with those two.”

“Don’t be shy now. I mean for a wife, it’s better for you to choose Krishna-chan. Someone like you who’s always in a daze… an older wife would be just fine. She was asking about the three mountain god to the head of the neighborhood association just now, and he was also buzzing in admiration about her -- that she was so young and so knowledgeable.”

That’s obvious. She is the manager of a huge occult website that earns tens of thousands of hits a day. According to Karasu-san, she is a person who has applied for collaborative research with professors of folklore at various universities.

“Compare that with Yoishi-chan, who’s rather eccentric”. With those words, I looked towards Yoishi, she was sitting near the shrine archway. And I was dumbfounded at what I saw. For some reason, Yoishi was digging up the base of the archway of the three mountain god shrine, with a seemingly smiling expression.
“Yeah… definitely a little weird”. Muttered Maru-yan as I rushed over to Yoishi in a hurry.

Her expression of ecstasy had been brought forth by digging out something she wasn’t supposed to.

“Oi! Don’t do stuff that’ll get you cursed.” I rapped Yoishi's head as she poked around the base of the torii with a sharp stone picked up from somewhere nearby.

“Ow! That hurt”

“Sure it did, now what were you doing there?”

“This place is interesting.” Yoishi looked up towards me. Her eyes were shining brightly, I quickly regained my composure.

“That’s fine; I don’t want to hear it.” But Yoishi continued speaking without a care.

“I wonder if everyone is aware. The torii is in this direction-“

“That’s enough! Stop it already!” I screamed. Was it because I had been out in the sun for too long? Or maybe because of a lack of sleep, or perhaps because of the hidden meaning in her words. I felt unsteady of my feet, as if gastric juice was welling up inside me. Don’t say anymore unnecessary things, is what I wanted to say. Menacing me in my dreams, and scaring me in reality as well, where was I supposed to run to?

“Why? It’s an important thing” Yoishi kept crouching down looking up at me with her dark eyes.

I stood there taking a deep breath, staring at Yoishi. Her school uniform had become crumpled already. The same white blouse had become wrinkled after being worn for a few days. Her hands were dirty from messing around in the dirt; she hadn’t taken a shower so her naturally long and beautiful hair was dirty again. As everyone was merrily going about their work with a smile preparing for the ceremony, she was looking up to me with an ominous gaze as if she were a lone, corrupted entity in all of this.

“Why are you like this?” I asked feeling dizzied under the strong sunlight. “Why do you always say things like that? Isn’t everyone having fun with the festival preparations? This festival only happens once every three years. It’s a small town but everyone adjusts their schedule for this day. So I’m begging you, just read the atmosphere. I’m not asking you to help or anything, just don’t get in the way. Don’t try and ruin things at least!” Oh, I think I may have overreacted. I don't know why I suddenly snapped at this girl who was younger than me. I should have stopped, but due to the lack of sleep, her tendency to do strange things that made people around her look askance, and the fact that I wanted to improve her situation just a little bit, I couldn't help myself. I had already crossed the line; it was too late to retreat.

“Why can't you live like a normal person? You have to go to school and learn to talk to people normally. Otherwise you'll have a very hard time later in life.”

Yoishi looked down in silence.

“What do you mean by normal?”

“Huh?”

“In this world, is there any worth in conforming?”

The darkness in Yoishi's eyes seemed eternal. More so than time at the Hachioji hospital; more so than the night at the reservoir, the darkness was even deeper. 
"No- that is... There's many disagreeable people, so it's obvious, anyone who can't adapt to that will find living difficult, right?"

"Adapting? I wonder if that has any meaning" Yoishi stood up with her hands still dirty staring off somewhere. That back of hers looked slender and unreliable as always. Anyways, I was tired and irritated: of her, and her words. Tired from my exams, tired of my dreams, I had no energy to comprehend what her words meant. 

“Anyway, just don’t get in the way of the festival.” I said over my shoulder as I left Yoishi and returned to the preparations for the festival.

--

On that night, it was a full moon. I was looking happily at the beautiful full moon’s perfect circle, holding the bat tightly in my hands. The location was the garden at the back of the house. Why was I standing here alone while being stung by striped mosquitoes? That was entirely Maru-yan and the others’ fault. After we had finished the construction of the pedestal for the festival, Ranbashi and the others had gathered at my house for a party at evening time. While helping out my mother, I was keeping an eye out for Krishna-san, who had an extremely anti-alcoholic constitution, as well as the underage Yoishi to make sure that my father and the others would not make them drink any alcohol. However, Krishna-san would get intoxicated just by the smell of alcohol alone, and after about 30 minutes, was once again dancing around wearing the tengu mask. The problem occurred after that.

My mother announced that the bath was ready and urged Krishna-san and Yoishi to take a bath first. That moment, I witnessed Maru-yan and Pei-chan’s suspicious behavior. After a while, they fled to the hallway. I had a bad feeling and chased them outside, catching them in the front door.

“Where are you two off to?”

“Nowhere-- just to observe the moon for a little bit.”

“Liar, you’re going to peep in the bath, right?”

When pointed out so bluntly: “Please look the other way, Nagito” Pei-chan exaggeratedly begged while putting his hands together and raising them over his head in supplication. 

Not a chance. “Are you animals? Have you lost your senses?”

“Peeping is a man’s romance, a deed that humanity must carry”. Maru-yan came up with such absurd reasoning, I firmly shook my head.

“It’s no good; I’m going to stand guard until those two step out of the bath.”

“Well, we’re going home then”. Maru-yan quickly replied.

“How’s that? You can’t stop us from leaving.”

“Are you really going home?” 

“If we stay here, it would be agonizing, so it’s better to say good bye and leave here, right, Pei-chan?”

“O-oh..! That’s right. Let’s go back.” They both exchanged looks in a strange way, and the way they were nodding to each other in unison was pretty suspicious. 

Oh, you’re leaving already? Replied my sister as the two bid their farewells and left. Seeing the two off in silence, I looked into the tatami room. Ranbashi was trapped alone with my father as he narrated his tales of heroism from his younger days. I could trust Ranbashi based on his personality. But those two wouldn’t possibly go home so obediently like that, I thought. With that, I returned to my room for the time being, and grabbed the wooden bat from my elementary school days. After that I thrust a flashlight in my pocket and went outside. I took up position in the rear garden on the north side of the house, and stood guard outside the window of the bathroom. 

It wasn’t like I didn’t comprehend the feeling of wanting to peek in on women taking a bath, but I was indebted to Krishna-san, and I had said some harsh things to Yoishi in the afternoon; that feeling of remorse mixed in, is why I stood guard here alone. The bathroom’s window was slightly open, a few meters ahead of me, the light and the steam was drifting from there. I was relentlessly chasing off the striped mosquitoes that were coming close to me.

“I really am quite weak with alcohol.” Soon I heard her, the voice of Krishna-san. 

“Hey, Get in already.” She called out to someone. Probably Yoishi, I thought. Incidentally, I had requested Krishna-san in the afternoon, to take Yoishi with her when she goes to take a bath at night. As far as I knew, Yoishi had not stepped into the bath even once since she had come here. I was afraid my family would say that to me as well, which is why I requested Krishna-san. If Yoishi couldn’t wash her body or her hair herself, it’s regretful, but would you do it? Is what I asked.

“Hey, don’t get in the bathtub so suddenly.” Came Krishna-san’s voice from the window, along with the lively sound of a splash and bubbles. I plugged my ears, but that didn’t stop the scent of the shampoo drifting in my direction. My mind gradually got stimulated. This is crazy, isn’t it like I’m the one peeping in this scenario? I fervently shook my head but, the image of those two naked was vividly being drawn in my mind.

“Those are what are called worldly desires, Nagito.” I heard a voice and looked around at the fence to see Maru-yan and Pei-chan’s faces peering in.

“You’ve arrived, have you…? You shameless lot…”

“The shameless one here is you”.
Brazenly, the two climbed over the fence slowly. 

“Hey, don’t come in.”

“Be quiet, Nagito. Otherwise they’ll hear you.”

“That’s why I’m telling you not to come.”

“Silently, we’ll reach there. After that it’ll just be fun in our day dreams.”

One way or the other, they climbed down to the other side of the fence, and crouched over to my side.

“If you take one more step from there, this is going to roar.” I readied my bat. Ok, we get it, the two whispered. That moment, another splash, and the sound of flipping hot water was heard. 

“Hey! I’ll wash your head, so look over here.” Spoke Krishna. Soon, the shampoo’s fragrant scent would once again drift our way. I turned around just then to make eye contact with Maru-yan and Pei-chan. Their faces were stretched outward to the maximum limit.

“Don’t smell it! Don’t listen!” I spoke as the two replied in unison:

“That’s impossible.” They blurted out in hoarse tones.

“It’s so good.”
“A woman is so good.”

“I can’t bear it.”

They kept repeating things like that and mumbling. Ah, I know! I know these things already. After all, I was trying frantically to suppress the squirming lower half of my body. So stop speaking already. 

“However, I have a question.” Yoishi’s voice suddenly rang out. 

“What do you need to eat, to get big breasts like that?” 

“Hey…“

“Naturally, women's breasts swell. But your breasts are clearly outrageous”

“………..”

“I pressed my nose in a hurry. I felt like something warm was pushing up from the back of my nose. However, something red was already hanging from the nostrils of Pei-chan and Maru-yan.

“How should I know? I didn’t like my breasts becoming this big in the first place. I think yours are just about right.”

“Mine are almost non-existent”

“Isn’t that fine? Look, they are just fine. They fit in the size of a woman’s hand, just the right size”

I thought she was flat chested, so that’s what it was. I unintentionally pictured it. 

“Is that so, I wonder? I’ve read somewhere that that an unmanageable size is the best.” Came Yoishoi’s rebuttal. “Oval in shape; white and lustrous, like ripened peaches, or watermelons about to burst. I wanted you to tell me if you had a secret method.”

At the same time as suppressing the delusions bubbling forth, I was cheering Yoishi on to give more descriptions. Suddenly, before I knew it, the maple in the backyard was shaking. Pei-chan was shaking it in order to endure something. Maru-yan was holding it back from shaking desperately. Both their faces were so flush they could burst.

“T-that’s enough! Stop it, this topic of breasts” With Krishna-san’s shy voice, the discussion on breasts was over. The sound of the boiling water became more furious than before, the steam and scent overflowed all the more from the window.

“By the way, why are you clinging to Nagi-kun?” Krishna-san’s inquiry brought about a temporary silence in the bath. That’s right, I recalled as I finally regained control of myself. Certainly, that is a problem. I did say I would show her Eboshi mountain, but at that time it was just a figure of speech, in the first place, mountains of this height were plenty in Tokyo.

“What? Is it inconvenient for you?” Yoishi’s words brought about another silence. Suddenly with a thump, I was struck at my side. When I looked, Pei-chan was glaring at me a dripping nosebleed. Oh, it’s like that, is it you bastard? He whispered. I waved my hands as if to say no.

“To begin with, was your coming here even meaningful? Did you have any interest in the three god manifestation fire festival?”
“I did have an interest, but perhaps a different aim than yours”.

“What’s that?”

“Originally, I heard that the festival started as a thank-you to the mountain gods of this whole area that flourished in forestry. However, if we assume that, there will be various inconsistencies.”

“…………..”

“I thought you realized it” ….What is it? What is this discussion? I was puzzled.

“Don’t pry into that, Yoishi.” Krishna-san spoke sternly. “The village has its own circumstances. In ancient places where people live, circumstances which outsiders can’t perceive, those kinds of things. Moreover, in that kind of process, the circumstances pile up. An outsider digging up that kind of stuff isn’t good.”

“Even if that was related to a curse?”

....What? What curse?

“That festival was not born out of thanks or reverence.”

“Even if that were true…” Krishna interrupted Yoishi’s words. “There are many festivals where the conditions changed after many long years. Now, it’s just a festival of gratitude. It’s only held to exorcise any impurity. Don’t speak of what was sealed here once in the past. This town… is tied to that fire festival.”

The conversation had completely become occult focused, my erotic thoughts quickly withered away. These two are always like this. After all, there was never a time when these two got along like young girls playing house with dolls. Nevertheless, standing in the same posture for a long time made my legs go completely numb. I unintentionally staggered from my spot. I ended up leaning on Maru-yan who, in turn pushed down Pei-chan.

“Owww!”

Raising that kind of voice, we fell down in unison. The bat I was holding also dropped down making a rattling noise and breaking the flower pot that had been left there.

“W-who is it?” Krishna-san’s voice roared from the bath, at the same time Maru-yan and Pei-chan dashed out of there. They jumped the fence like flying monkeys and disappeared on the other side. I tried to follow, but my legs were still numb, I made for the fence but my legs slipped and I fell again. This time, a different flower pot was broken.

“Oh! Hey, Yoishi!” When I heard Krishna's voice, I involuntarily turned around. There, in the wide-open bathroom window, stood Yoishi. She was staring intently at me, covered only up to her waist by the wall. 

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah... I... Well, it's...”

Despite the light coming from behind her back, which obscured all the important details, I could make out the outline of the girl's body. Her pure white skin and the flawless curves of her figure were capable of depriving me of sleep for years to come.

“Don't forget that if you peek,” she said, looking at me coldly. Something warm dripped from my nose. 

“...someone might peek back.”