Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 7 Chapter 5 (section)

===4===

All those colored paper were already faded, with spots on them; the tissue-paper like paper was also badly stained. We took all these paper down and burnt them.

Returning to the entrance hall, we started up the bonfire that had already extinguished. After we related the happenings to Bou-san etc who went to buy things, Yasuhara said: “We are completely stuck in a predicament.”

“It looks to be so.”

I nodded, but Yasuhara shook his head instead.

“When we asked the people who sought shelter at the supermarket where we shopped at, most people refused to speak of this place. Once in a while there were some who said not to get close to the school and such.”

“—Ai?”

“We felt there was something up, so we went to the local library. Regardless of how it was explained, it still felt very strange that the school was closed in May 5 years ago, so we dug out the newspapers that were published then, and came easily to a conclusion. – This is a photocopy.”

Yasuhara took out a folded piece of paper from his shirt pocket.

“Yamatusnami.”

“Ai?”

“Do you still remember? The landslide 5 years ago: cars, houses – everything was swept away; many people died.”

“Now that you mentioned it – something like that did happen.”

I had a vague impression of it. The scene of tea-colored earth collapsing and falling to the ground, and that of heavy vehicles used to retrieve buried vehicles from the mud, etc.

“That—”

John’s face was filled with confusion. Yasuhara and I looked at John.

“Oh yes, John doesn’t know of this incident.”

“Because, 5 years ago I wasn’t in Japan yet, that’s why I don’t know.”

“I remember it –, indeed, I think the landslide happened on a motorway.”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“I remember the newspapers and (broadcasting) networks at that time were full of this. Due to deforestation the earth had softened, on top of that there was a long period of rain, which resulted in a landslide. Buses and cars and the houses by the roadside were all swallowed by the earth. Amongst them was a tour bus. And everybody on board died: they were all the students of a branch of a school, and the school also shut down. It was described as a ‘tragic closure’ and such; I still remember the scene of a black clad old man locking up the school gates.”

Yasuhara nodded.

“It was a major event which caused 26 deaths and 16 people to be seriously injured. Amongst the dead were the 18 students returning from a trip, the teacher in charge of them, the bus driver and tour guide; and there were 2 cars which were also swept away – the drivers died on the spot; 4 houses by the roadside were also swept away, with 3 deaths, making a total of 26.”

– I hate this type of topic; it makes one feel very depressed.

“Because the school lost all its students at the same time, and there were no new enrolments the next year, in reality it meant closing the school. The second year after the reservoir was completed, there was indeed a village that moved away; but in reality the exodus was before this incident, and has no relation to the school’s closure.”

“—if this is the case, then why would they tell such a big lie?”

“The problem is right here, –first, following convention to appease the dead, we heard a large memorial was built near to the site. Disregarding this first, in reality, the situations that affected the people involved in this incident (occurred in this place), so the problem is right here.” 

– !

“According to accounts from youths from the library, ‘the dead primary school children call for companions as they are lonely’ – there are such rumors; and, ‘therefore there are children who go missing in the mountains nearby’.”

“That can’t be…”

“Takigawa-san and Hara-san both helped to check, and indeed there are many incidents of children going missing. And these incidents did indeed start happening frequently starting 5 years ago. Taking June 5 years ago as the start, every 3 to 4 months, a child would go missing; but last year it all stopped suddenly.”

– ??

Yasuhara’s brow wrinkled slightly.

“To be precise the last incident was October last year. From the newspapers, it looks like the disappearances have stopped for a year and a half. – Why was that? Don’t you think it’s strange?”

“Strange?”

Naru spoke,

“What the Village Chief and co came to request, should be related to these disappearances. – if that’s the case it means that the disappearances did not stop, although there might be some time between disappearances. At least, it’s not possible that it ceased completely; that the newspaper did not report it, is probably because arrangements were made prior to the incident in order to prevent it being reported.”

Yasuhara gently clapped his hands with the paper.

“Brilliant! – On the way back we went nearby to check it out, and asked, ‘do you know the news of a child going missing a couple of days ago?’ Although we tried very hard to fish out a story, the answer was still, ‘why do you ask about this type of thing?’ and denials of any incidents of disappearances – they wouldn’t say anything at all.”

“So that’s the case—”

Naru mumbled to himself.

“At the very least, ‘a couple of days ago’ a disappearance had occurred. What happened to the children that disappeared?”

Yasuhara’s expression turned serious simultaneously.

“What’s more suspicious here is that, at the beginning, when the children who disappeared were found, they were all already dead.”

“At the beginning?”

“From the June 5 years ago – till about a year later.”

“And after this?”

“They were not found.”

Naru was once again, forcing a smile.

“Could you be actually waiting for me to ask where the bodies were found?”

Yasuhara scratched his head embarrassedly.

“You really are annoying, if you know then don’t be so naughty, I’m waiting.”

“Where were they found?”

“Halfway up the mountain of 騰矢字支野田.”

“Is this the same as the location of the school?”

“The same.”

“So that’s the case, it was actually like this—”

– I completely did not understand what they were talking about.

“That… excuse me…”

I was clearly already asking nervously; Naru’s heartless reply still hit me on the head.

“Your brain is really useless.”

– it’s none of your business!

“In other words, the situation is like this –”

Saying that, Naru’s dark gaze turned to the school compound, which was already submerged in dusk.

“A month after May 5 years ago, when all the students in this school died in the accident, a child disappeared, and the body was found in this school.”

“—Yeah.”

“After the tragedy, in order to prevent people from investigating, they made it such that to inquire about the abandoned school one could only use its registered name.”

“ –??”

“However, within a year, similar incidents continued to happen, so to locals it would definitely feel very strange; even amongst unrelated individuals, there would definitely be someone curious about the place 腾矢野, where the bodies are found. – Hence they decided to announce to the outside world that they did not find any bodies after that.”

Yasuhara cut in,

“Or else, they found the bodies but pretended not to have found them, or taking one step further, they could have hidden the bodies.”

“—that they do it to this extent, – let’s not talk about this first. Because the disappearances continue to happen unceasingly, the volume of tourists will be affected, so financially the income from tourism is insufficient. In order to prevent the newspapers from leaking the news they made arrangements, but despite that, the disappearances still continue.”

“That’s why they would consult us?”

“It’s such a situation. From the decision of the Village Chief and co, I can see that while they really want to prevent the continuation of the disappearances, they are very afraid of the details of the situation being known. On the other hand they are afraid that psychics are difficult to find, and they also have to confirm the abilities of the psychics. Just as they have run out of options, they encounter, by chance, psychics who arrive at this place.”

Ah— ah— Why would I feel anger rising?

“Just like this? Just because they are afraid of the disappearances being known that they weave a huge web of lies to trick us, to make us come to this place? We don’t know the actual situation, they don’t even tell us how dangerous this place really is. At least if we knew the situation before hand we wouldn’t have carelessly gotten sealed up like this. How can they be so despicable!?”

They caused Lin-san and Ayako to both –

“And not only that.”

Naru looked at Yasuhara.

“Are you hiding anything else?”

Yasuhara smiled embarrassedly.

“—you caught me. The victims of the disappearances that were reported in the news – almost all were tourists. Children from the nearby campsite or ski resort have disappeared without anyone noticing.”

“Ah—ah, so that’s the case, if it’s like this it will indeed affect visitor volumes.”

– It’s so despicable, to let ignorant people come to this place, almost to become a sacrifice. How can they be so low?

“—but, if it’s like this…”

John asked cautiously.

“—Yeah?”

“The victims of the disappearances – those people aren’t still here, are they?”

Still… here…

“Your meaning is…”

“Regardless of what happened, if they found a body they’d pretend they did not find it, and the body might even have been hidden somewhere. If we search the school we might even find a body, but even if we find one, it might not necessarily be good news – that’s what I think.”

If this is the case—

Naru nodded.

“Then the bodies of the victims who disappeared over the past 4 years – the chance of them being in the school is very high.”