Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 5 Chapter 3 (section)

===8===

A warning. A message left. Who wanted to communicate this, and to whom? The owner of that overcoat must have wanted to pass this message to someone. It’s also possible it was something received from someone else.

When everyone was deep in thought, someone lightly tapped the window.

When everyone turned to look at the window, Mori-san was already standing there.

“Madoka! … Haven’t I already told you how dangerous this is, and not to come near to this place?”

Opening the window, Naru spoke in a cool voice.

Mori-san raised her hand.

“Stop. How about letting me in first?”

Naru pulled Mori-san in with an extremely displeased expression. Mori-san, who jumped in with a thump, said, “Greetings to everyone”, and smiled.

“Madoka. I should have already told you not to come.”

“Ah la, of course it’s because there’s no danger that I’m here. I’m not as stupid as Naru.”

… Stupid. And that referred to Naru. She really has guts.

Mori-san, who had sat down, took out a few cans of coffee from a convenience store bag and distributed it to us.

“… and then?”

While Naru’s cold gaze observed these, Mori-san, who had loosened the tab on the can, passed the can towards Naru.

“Help me open it (heart).”

Stiff-faced, Naru pulled open the can. After passing the can back to Mori-san, 

“Why is there no danger?”

Mori-san did not hesitate at all.

“This is a child’s playground.”

“… What do you mean?”

“I say, isn’t the front garden of this house a large field? It looks like the children all come here to play.”

She said that and flashed a smile.

“Apparently that place was suitable for the neighborhood children to practice baseball or soccer, so that location was often used. It looks like because of the disappearance incident around February that those activities ceased. Of course, there hasn’t been any incident of a child disappearing. That’s why I said that there’s no danger up to the gardens.”

Mori-san shrugged as she said that.

“Apparently they’ve always forbidden children from entering the house. This place is also a famous haunted house, so although incidents of children secretly entering the house out of curiosity have happened before, no one had gone into the depths of the house. At the most they took a turn around the room by the window, and then stopped their activities just like that.”

Mori-san stared at Naru with a challenging look. 

“That’s why I said, the dangerous part is the inside of this house. The outside of the house is safe.”

“That’s only for the day time right?”

“Ah la, one will inevitably tangle with a little danger in the work of a ghost hunter. I haven’t done anything more dangerous than living in a house with a bad record.”

… well said.

“… and then?”

“You aren’t here just to see our faces, are you?”

“Ah, right, right.”

Mori-san clapped her hands and retrieved a notebook from her sweater pocket.

“That… Atsugi-san hasn’t been sighted nearby too. He hasn’t taken a bus or rented a car either.”

Mori-san said that while she turned a page.

“And about the Miyama father and son situation. First up is Mr Kaneyuki.”

Naru’s cold gaze somehow makes one feel that he isn’t listening at all.

“He was apparently severely mysophobic. It was said that there was a dishonest incident at the silk factory. Apparently one of the staff misappropriated the wages of a worker or something. Then, that worker was dismissed for no good reason.  His eldest son was also working in the same factory and was also sacked. His third son was a staff member of the hospital, and was also sacked. And the owner of the house they lived in was Kaneyuki, so they were all evicted. – it doesn’t stop here.”

“There’s more?”

Bou-san was shocked speechless. Mori-san nodded, smiling.

“There is. His married daughter and her husband also rented their house from Kaneyuki, so they were also evicted. The convict’s parents were also Kaneyuki’s tenant farmers, and were also evicted.”

“That’s really despicable…”

“Isn’t it? This is turning into a theme here.”

Saying that, Mori-san flipped over a page.

“Therefore, Mr Kaneyuki really disliked interacting with people, and completely did not allow anyone to come near this mountain villa. Apparently even if there was an urgent matter he would also be unreachable. Unless Mr Kaneyuki contacted the outside, there would be practically no way otherwise.”

… He~~.

“Apparently he had employed a maid, but it’s said that she wasn’t employed from Suwa but from somewhere else; it was something like that. The son, Mr Hiroyuki, was also a famous eccentric. However one puts it he is the person who renovated this building endlessly. Regarding the renovations, Mr Hiroyuki had said some words that made others concerned…”

“Words that made others concerned?”

“Yeah. When he was asked about the reason for the renovations, apparently he said: ‘Because there are spirits escaping; this is to make sure they don’t escape.’.”

… Because there are spirits escaping, this is to make sure they don’t escape…

“That’s all I’ve found out.”

With a clap, Mori-san closed the notebook. She tilted her head as though very troubled.

“However we put this, these events are of days long past, and there are already very few people who remember these incidents. Because of the era, I think it is already very good that I’ve found out this much.”

Naru did not speak. A ‘thank you’ would have been good at least.

Bou-san cut in.

“Miss, do you know of Kaneyuki’s friends?”

“I’ve investigated it a little… But I’ve heard he practically has no one he would call a friend.”

“I’m afraid there should be a person called Urado amongst them.”

Bou-san picked up the frame which was sitting in a corner of the room.

“The person in this painting. According to the date on the back as to when this was painted, this should be somebody Mr Kaneyuki knew…”

Bou-san’s words had not reached the end. Mori-san glanced at that painting,

“Ah la, that is Mr Kaneyuki.”

And said that.


“Was Mr Kaneyuki’s pseudonym Urado?”

Bou-san looked repeatedly through the photocopies of the photos Mori-san had left behind.

It was a photo of a person standing beside a door post hung with a plaque, ‘Miyama Weaving Factory’. Regardless of how one looked at it, one could see the model for the self-portrait was definitely Mr Kaneyuki.

“Although he’s a philanthropist, he’s also an eccentric – this man.”

“Exactly.”

Naru’s expression turned a little severe.

“He’s only an eccentric. ‘The people who came to this place have all died’. ‘This place’ would definitely have to be this mountain villa, right? What happened here? ‘Heard they were ?? by Urado’ – If we don’t know the meaning of that sentence we can’t figure it out.”

Somehow Naru’s tone of voice was strangely unsettling.

“But one thing is clear for sure.”

Ayako said.

“What…?”

I asked.

“Ah la, have you forgotten already? It’s what the spirits said during the séance.”

… Ah.

“‘Save me’ ‘I don’t want to die’ – Those were definitely the spirits of the people who died here.”

Ayako’s words made me feel even more uneasy.

Cloaked in uneasiness that night, I returned to my room.

– Then I had a dream.