Editing Phenomeno:Case 02 (section)

===Wish===

====1====

''—Darkness is as lukewarm and as bottomless as water.''

So wrote an American mystery author in his only work translated to Japanese, ''The Despair of the Baumkuchen''. I found that book in my high school library, and it was seriously good. I don't usually read books, so the fact that I'm saying this leaves no doubt about it. The author depicted a somewhat twisted world in a comical fashion, and it gave me the rare experience of not being able to put down a book. I tried to find that author's other works after I came to Tokyo, but I could never find anything. I eventually found out that the book I read of his was the only one that had been translated into Japanese. At the same time, I learned something very disappointing.

Right around the time I was reading his book in high school — far away in America, the author drunkenly fell from a dam and died.

They say it was a rainy night. There are those who say it was a suicide and others who say it was an accident, but as someone who'd read his book, I'd always found myself fascinated by the night that he'd stood upon the dam before his death.

Just dark, overflowing, bottomless water.

Perhaps he could not overcome his desire to learn what lay in the depth of darkness?

I thought about such things—

Standing smack dab in the middle of bottomless darkness.

Indeed, darkness was like water.

It seemed to cling to you like a lukewarm substance, and it would quickly engulf any weak light like that from a penlight. And even more so in the abandoned hospital in the mountains, where the moon was hidden by clouds.

“Hey, shouldn’t we get back soon?”

I couldn’t deny my voice was trembling somewhat.

"—Hey, let's go back, shall we? I mean, the shattered glass is dangerous, and the concrete is beginning to crumble. And there may be some DQN who're out for blood around here."

I tried listing all the reasons to run away as I thought of them, however…

"There is no such thing as a safe haunted place in this world." Yoishi Mitsurugi muttered in her usual emotionless tone.

With penlight in one hand, Yoishi kept moving ahead in her school uniform.

Her summer high school uniform, with its black tie and white blouse seemed to melt into the darkness, inexplicably reminding me of a scene from a perverse film. If we weren't where we were, it may have been a fun event, but her beautiful, yet emotionless face scared me instead.

It was just past two o’ clock in the morning.

Yoishi Mitsurugi and I were visiting a certain abandoned hospital deep in the mountains of Hachiouji.

The windows were shattered on the linoleum tiled floor, with the tattered remains of medical records covering them. Peeling wall posters hung at an angle, and with a penlight, they gave the appearance of a bloodied woman beckoning you. Worst of all, even though there’s supposed to be nobody around except us, there was a strong sense of people hanging all over the place.

“Originally, there were several ghost stories set in this abandoned hospital." Yoishi's happy mumbling dramatically lowered the surrounding temperature. "Like the one that says that even though there’s no electricity, low mechanical noises can be heard from the basement. One about the ghost of a female nurse wandering around, and another one about how an empty wheelchair begins to chase you..."

"Hey, stop it, this isn't the time or place to say that kind of stuff."

"But there was one interesting rumor amongst all those trite stories.," Yoishi's voice brimmed with vitality as it echoed through the darkness. "A rumor in which the number of people visiting this place changes."

"The number...changes?" I asked in return. "Is that such an unusual rumor? Like, people enter in a group of four and then somehow it's grown to five, right? I hear those all the time." I pointed out, and she muttered somewhat happily that it was the other way around.

"In the story I heard, the number goes down." I braced myself, as it seemed the conversation was suddenly starting to take a strange turn. 

"If you enter with four, you'll end with three. If you go with five, you'll see four. And while they're inside the hospital, the remaining people become frantic about where the other person has gone, yet when they step out of the hospital, they're all there."

I felt like I heard something snap somewhere in the darkness.

Come to think of it, it seems like I've been hearing a lot of other sounds around me for a while now, sounds not made by us.

"The interesting thing about this story is the difference in perception. When people asked the person who'd vanished, they would say that they were with everyone all along. Yet the others all agree that that person was not there. So then where did that one person go? Who were they with?"

I felt like the temperature was still dropping.

For a moment, I lost track of where I was. I should have been standing on concrete, but it felt like there was only pure darkness. And I could no longer be sure that I was speaking to Yoishi.

Ugh, how did I end up here?

I thought I'd learned my lesson the first time, why was I doing this again?

Or at least I should have learned. When her eyes and voice begin to show signs of life, something starts to warp. The walls of common sense and reality surrounding me tear down, and I sense the slimy intrusion of those that live on the other side of that wall.

As I shone the light alternately on Yoishi’s back, which was moving ahead without hesitation, and at my own feet--

I was already on the verge of tears.


【The location of forbidden haunted spots is finally known!】

Everything began with that thread on the occult site "Ikaigabuchi."

The administrator, Krishna-san, had immediately deleted the thread, but for better or for worse, I ended up getting a glimpse of the thread. And I noticed certain details:

 * Deep in the mountains of Hachiouji.
 * Abandoned hospital.
 * People who entered this hospital are still hospitalized in a psychiatric ward.

And then I remembered. It was talked about in the previous offline meeting, it was an offline meeting for investigating horror spots that Yoishi had once attended. If I recall correctly, they said it was for an abandoned hospital. And that something had happened there, and that one of the participants only mumbled "Yoishi" afterwards, and that they were still in a psychiatric ward. Yoishi Mitsurugi posted denpa-like comments on the internet to begin with, but this incident solidified her reputation as an "accursed being." And over the past few weeks, rumors about Yoishi caught wind, and now she'd become a real life Sadako-like character online.

When you meet her, you die in seven days.

You become cursed just by talking to her.

Stories of her appearance circulated, such as being a one-armed man, a bloodstained woman, and so on. I was already fed up with all those random rumors.

Having been helped by her to some extent in the previous incident, I'd begun to feel that Yoishi wasn't as monstrous as the internet made her out to be. She was just a slightly odd high school girl who was very knowledgeable about the occult. Of course, she did have some denpa tendencies.

And with all that, I thought.

If I could figure out what exactly happened there back then, maybe her reputation would be restored.

After finishing my lecture that day, I quickly hurried to the west gate of the university. It was exactly 3 PM. The students from the affiliated school would be going home then. I didn't think Krishna-san would tell me anything, so I figured the fastest way would be to ask the person in question.

"Ah, hey, Yoishi!"

Eventually, the black-haired, white-faced girl showed up, and I called out to her from the shadow of a telephone pole.

"Wait, I want to ask you something."

When I rushed over and began talking to her, Yoishi turned to face me with a dazed look.

Her eyes were like glass beads as always, I thought, and I got right down to business.

"Have you ever been to an abandoned hospital in Hachiouji at an offline meeting of 'Ikaigabuchi'?"

For a while, she looked like she was remembering a childhood friend, and then she nodded.

"I went there."

"What happened to the other members that went?"

"It was an offline meeting. I haven't kept in touch."

"You know, one of them is still hospitalized. In a psychiatric ward, no less."

I told her what Zippo-san had told me at the previous offline meeting.

That someone he knew had gone with Yoishi.

And afterwards, he was still hospitalized, only mumbling the word: "Yoishi."

When I gave her a quick rundown, she just cocked her head to the side a bit.

"Is it not a big deal to you? What happened there anyway?"

"What happened...? I heard it was a haunted place, so I went, that's all."

"No, but you knew that hospital was dangerous, didn't you? Why didn't you stop them?"

"They were not the kind of people who would stop if I told them that ‘it was the real thing’."

".........Ungh."

That might be true.

I'd probably be even more tempted to go if someone said that to me.

But, no, no, no. That wasn't the problem. I found out last time that she was special. She was distinctly different from the average occult-lover. She must have known that hospital was truly dangerous. To know that, and to not warn people of that, what sort of person would do that?

And then she spoke, as if reading my expression.

"People are responsible for themselves at haunted places. Just like how it always is in this world."

The cold way she said it -- I don't know why, but it made me inexplicably angry.

"Do you not care? You're being treated like a denpa because you say things like that."

I ended up saying that.

But she simply sighed.

"You can't put a trap in people's mouths. Especially on the internet."

She muttered, and started walking away again.

As expected, I started feeling foolish. I was worried about her and tried to support her, but her attitude was quite rude. Still, as I watched her thin back as she walked away, I felt an irresistible sense of sadness. She was like a stranger that walked alone in the windswept wilderness. She was, in a sense, nothing more than a forsaken being, carrying all the pain and misery of the world by herself.

-- God, fine.

I ran after her again.

Hot on her heels, I decided to continue the conversation anyways.

"Then tell me the truth. What happened there? I'll post that for you."

And then Yoishi stopped, and peered at my face with genuine wonder.

"I don't understand what the point of that is."

"Shut up. Just tell me."

I said once more--

And something wriggled at the back of her dark eyes.

"Do you really want to know?"

Her empty gaze terrified me.

Something was beginning to open past those dark eyes that seemed to capture everything. At the same time, the safety device inside me began blaring warning sirens. Stop, someone yelled. I had a feeling an inescapable story was about to start.

"If you want to know, no matter what--"

Yoishi muttered, staring somewhere in the distance.

"It would be faster if we go there."

"Go…To that hospital?"

Yoishi nodded once, and then furrowed her brows slightly.

"To be honest, I don't really understand that place yet."

"...What?"

"My head hasn't been able to come with an answer that makes me go, 'Ahh, so that's how it is'. That sort of thing is quite rare."

I'd become speechless, and my legs froze, however, Yoishi added:

"From this point on, you’re responsible for your own actions."



...And so, Yoishi and I had arrived here after taking a train.

I see, so this is what they call reaping what you sow. I'm wandering around this creepy place because I thought I was going to help her without knowing my place.

In the dense darkness--

We'd descended to the basement of the hospital, and had progressed along a dark, damp, and humid passageway.

My breathing became more ragged than it should have been, possibly due to the dirty, stagnant air. My heart pounded so heavily it almost felt like it'd rip through my clothes, and I'd thought countless times that I couldn't go any further.

So why was I still hanging on?

Why couldn't I just grab Yoishi's hand and say we’re leaving?

That moment--

I heard a snapping sound somewhere, again.

I was so unnerved; It was if something had taken hold of my heart.

"W- what was that sound? We've been hearing that for a while..."

I asked, but Yoishi simply said, "Who knows?" as she continued.

"Who knows...? You heard it, didn't you? It was pretty loud."

I stood bent over, and kept swinging my light around.

"Here."

Yoishi's voice came from ahead.

I looked toward her, and saw that she had stopped in front of a certain room. I drew closer, and saw that her penlight was illuminating a sign reading "Second Resources Room."

"What about this place?"

"From this point on, one person disappeared."

"... Huh?"

I gulped once, then asked.

"In other words, what? That rumor about the number of people decreasing--"

"Was real."

"...You should have said something important like earlier!"

I snapped back at her in exasperation, but, things finally began making sense. In other words, Zippo-san's friend who was hospitalized was the one that disappeared. Of course they'd be stuck in a psychiatric ward if they were stuck here alone in such a creepy place. Even just by standing here, my knees were about to give out-- no. Wait? If that were the case, why would he have been mumbling ‘Yoishi’? Why did she end up stuck with a bad a reputation?

Yoishi quietly shook her head.

"Wrong."

"... Huh?"

"The one who disappeared, was me."

I was horrified at hearing those words.

"I was with them the whole time, yet when we left the hospital, they said I was the only one missing. We checked after we left the hospital, but our recollections matched perfectly up to this room. Yet, when we left the hospital, we remembered things differently. To them, I wasn't there, and to me, I remembered being together with them the whole time. If that was the case -- who were the people I was with?"

I gazed at Yoishi's profile as she happily explained what happened--

I thought: I shouldn't have come after all.

"Why did everyone’s memories diverge? How did it happen? I want to know."

Yoishi drew close to the door with an ecstatic look her face, then turned around once.

"Hey, are you scared?"

She asked, gazing into my eyes.

"How does it feel to be scared?"

And with that, she disappeared into the room.

Left behind alone in the dark corridor, I hesitated.

-- Ahh, I'm scared. Of course I am. Well, I'm going home now, good luck.

How much easier it would be if I could just say that and leave.

However, when a human's level of fear passes a certain threshold, their legs become immobilized. The very act of going out of the flow is likely to provoke something unseen and, conversely, requires tremendous courage. Furthermore, her being high school girl made it especially challenging. If I were to run now, I would never be able to escape from the title of "King of Wussies" for the rest of my life, having left a younger girl alone in a dark hospital.

I had no choice but to wedge myself through the gap in the slightly-ajar door.

It was even darker inside. If there were a density to darkness, it felt like this place had become even more dense. When I shone my light, I could tell it was a space of about twenty-four to twenty-six square meters in size. In the middle was a desk, and various unfamiliar tools were scattered around it. In the corner of the room were several fallen cabinets with shattered glass, and the papers stored inside were also scattered out onto the floor.

I kicked something over and I shined my light on there. It was a crushed beer can. When I looked closely, I saw the remains of cigarette butts and snack bags scattered around. Probably in large part, the remnants of those "ill-mannered" that Krishna-san despised so much. On weekends, this place probably turns into a place where the bored locals visit to test their courage.

"This must be a pretty popular spot."

I said, and far off in the darkness, an indifferent voice replied, ‘Probably’.[[Image:phenomeno-vol1-case02.jpg|Height in pixel|thumb|]]

I pointed my light at her and found Yoishi next to a cabinet. She shone her light into the drawers, illuminating the fallen medical records, but eventually picked up something and walked over to me

"We were all looking at this together last time."

Yoishi shone a light on the thing she held out to me: an old university notebook.

"What is that?"

I used my light as I opened it, and realized it was a journal. Letters were written from end to end inside. Inside, there were letters written in a continuous line, most of them in hiragana. Judging by the occasional colored pencil illustrations of cars and people, it appeared to have been written by a child patient. Flicking through, I noticed that the writing stopped about halfway through the notebook. It was dated August 16, 1991. And there, scrawled in large letters on a full page:


"Please fix my sickness."




Those clumsy words stabbed into my heart.

"The name matches, so it's probably this child's."

As I stared dumbfounded at the yellowed notebook, Yoishi handed me a sheet of paper from the side.

It was a medical record. It contained a record of the medical condition and hospitalization of an eight-year-old boy.

And at the end of it, written in a business-like fashion "Deceased."

"He died?"

I muttered reflexively, and Yoishi nodded.

She then pointed her light at the opposing wall and reiterated somewhat happily.

"Yes, he's supposed to be dead."

I was struck speechless when I saw the wall illuminated by the light.

There--

Written In hiragana, in the same handwriting as the notebook:

"I'll do whatever you ask if you fix me."

The writing on the wall was enormous. Each letter was the size of two human heads. And in addition, it was written at a height where even an adult would have trouble reaching.

"Did... this boy write that?"

"Who knows?"

Yoishi said, as she shined her light from one end of the wall to the other.

"But, the problem isn't who wrote it and when."

... Then what's the problem?

I thought, but it seemed like it would become even creepier, so I resolved to ask her only after we'd returned to a brighter area. See? I've grown a bit.

But, that moment.

The lights cut out.

Everything became covered with darkness, and I visibly recoiled.

"H- hey, why'd you turn off your light--"

After I said that, I realized…

... Wait. Yoishi wasn't the only one holding a light. I held a penlight in my hand too -- and I hadn't pressed the switch.

Nevertheless, for it to become pitch dark...

I heard a snapping sound somewhere, again.

It seemed to echo from afar, yet it also seemed to sound close to my ear. It sounded as if the air had split and cracked an invisible wall. And at the same time, I smelled something. A stomach-churning rotten odor, like a river filled with floating dead fish.

"Hey, Yoishi--"

I called out to my surroundings in a trembling voice, but there was no response.

"... C- Cut that out, hey."

I fumbled with the switch of my mini-light in hand as I shouted, and then--

Snap, crack, snap.

Sharp sounds echoed around me.

This is -- that. The rumored sound of saran wrapping.

And then suddenly, my arm was grabbed.

I was about to shriek, but it made me crouch on the spot.

"Silence."

I kept my mouth shut at Yoishi's sharp whisper.

And then, silence and darkness reigned over the area.

No--

At the edge of that silent world, filled with tension, I could feel something tilting. I could hear a stream of small sounds. Was someone else here? Or was it an animal? A bug? I tried to think that way, but I could clearly sense that small presence had a will. At the very least it wasn't an animal, as it was something that held the same complex and hopeless emotions as that of a human.

And I could tell that it was slowly coming to our room from the far end of the hallway.

I was completely in tears.

And from the bottom of my heart, I acknowledged that I was a wuss. If I could leave this place with my life, I would never again enter a haunted place. I wouldn't be enticed by Yoishi's bizarre words again. I would finish my letter to my mother, and from here on out, I would take care of my parents, devoting himself only to my studies and part-time work. Right. I'd come to Tokyo to turn around the fortunes of my family lumber business. Yet I was delving into an occult site and was being punished for roaming around in a place like this. This was punishment for not writing the letter to my mother as I said I would. I was wrong. I'll live a proper life from now on. So please. I beg of you. I have no idea what’s going on, but please leave this world. Go to that other world.

However -- as if to destroy my impromptu and earnest prayer to the gods.

"Vanish!"

Yoishi's inexplicable shout roared, and the desk beside me made a tremendous noise.

It seemed Yoishi had kicked it hard. Something was shattered by that, and a large sound echoed through what used to be a quiet, abandoned hospital. At the same time, my body began moving again. For some reason, the lights turned back on, and the moment it broke through the darkness -- I saw.

I ended up seeing it.

In the hallway past the slightly ajar door.

A sneaker with blue laces.

And extending from the worn and tattered sneaker -- a thin, pale, rotting, crumbling leg of a child.

"U... uwaa."

I screamed, and so did Yoishi.

"It's not impossible."

She shook off my arm and yelled in a terribly loud voice.

"It's pointless. It's unnecessary."

She kept shouting at something.

How was she making such a loud voice with that thin body of hers? Her loud voice completely cowed me. However, her voice seemed to have strongly agitated something I could not see. Countless things I could not see seemed to slither and move.

Simultaneously -- Yoishi began running toward the hallway. It may have been a challenge toward something I could not comprehend, or perhaps she was just trying to flee.

"W... wait, wait!"

What the heck, I thought as I followed her a moment later.

I stepped on the door she'd completely knocked down and stumbled out into the hallway.

"Hey, wait, Yoishi!"

I pointed my light down the hall, but she didn't wait.

-- You bastard, fine.

I was in the basketball club during high school and was even the point guard. I had confidence in my leg speed.

However -- Yoishi was even faster. There was no trace of her usual plodding pace. Her black hair tossed about as she ran like a young deer, and pulled away from me in the blink of an eye. On the way, she knocked down hospital partitions and withered vegetation, perhaps on purpose, or perhaps because she never saw them. It reminded me more of the ding dong ditches we did in elementary school, making me forget that this was a haunted area. Of course, I regretted it now, but at the time, we were afraid of the furious, bald guy who would chase us, and it was hilarious. My excitement from back then suddenly reawakened. And here it became nothing less than my savior. I blew away the obstacles that crashed into my legs and shoulders, and I kept running. For once, excitement triumphed over fear. I ran through the basement hall, climbed the stairs, and did a sharp turn at the first floor. I ran desperately, as I chased Yoishi who ran in the distance ahead.

"Hey, Yoishi!"

I kicked open the hospital entrance door and came outside--

However, there was no one there.

I could only hear the sound of insects, and the parking lot was full of weeds.

Under the pale blue moonlight -- I placed my hands on my knees and took deep breaths. My heart felt like it would explode from my first serious run in a while. At any rate, I had never felt so comforted by the moonlight before. As I regained my composure, black socks and black leather shoes appeared before me.

When I looked up, I found Yoishi looking down at me.

"Running away first is a foul, right?"

I complained, gasping for air, but Yoishi grumbled venomously.

"Pathetic."

"... Say again?"

"This place is pathetic."

She stared at the concrete structure floating blackly in the darkness of the night--

And then, she vomited.

She was suddenly throwing up in the parking lot.

Her vomit sparkled under the moonlight.

And as I watched, dumbstruck, I thought it looked kinda pretty.

====2====

"Krishna-saaan? Are you there--?"

It was about ten hours since I had left that creepy hospital.

I was knocking on the doors of the ‘Ikaigabuchi’ headquarters, the Beatnik Research Club.

"Helloooo?"

I knocked several times, but there was no response.

"That's odd. She's always in at this hour."

I peered into the dark room through the frosted glass attached to the door, and stifled a yawn.

In the end, it was dawn by the time I arrived back at my Musashino apartment from that hospital in Hachiouji.

I had planned to take a voluntary leave of absence today and get as much sleep as possible, but there was a reason I had diligently arrived for first period at university like this.

After walking back to the highway from the hospital, we then walked all the way to Hachiouji train station. The moment we hopped onto first train on the main line, exhaustion finally caught up and we both fell asleep. I regained consciousness just in time for the Mitaka announcement and hurriedly jumped off, but for some reason Yoishi hopped off as well. After that, she wobbled half-asleep, and followed me to my apartment, and in the end collapsed in in the corridor. Of course, I told her. Come on, wake up, go back to your home. I even tried pulling her cheeks, but she just stopped moving, as if her batteries had run out.

Thus, I had no choice but to let her sleep in my apartment, giving her the only futon I had -- and I myself came to university like I'd been kicked out. I went to my not-so-important first-period lecture for "Introduction to Law" to get some sleep, but when I thought about what happened last night, I had trouble doing so. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure out what was going on with that hospital. The mystery of the vanishing member hadn't been solved, and I didn't know what Yoishi called "pathetic" either.

As my mind went in circles over such those things, I lost my chance to sleep. I had no choice but to attended my next class, but I couldn't sleep in "Second Foreign Language" either. And so, without a wink of sleep, I came here when the lunch bell rang.

"Helloooo? Krishna-saaaan?"

I knocked again, but there was no response.

There was no response, but I thought I heard something from inside.

"Seriously?"

Come to think of it, I remember seeing a post on the student bulletin board about there having been a lot of clubroom vandalisms recently.

I was worried and placed my hand on the doorknob, and found that it wasn't locked. I became more and more suspicious, and made up my mind to enter.

I took a deep breath —— and flung the door open.

And when I saw what was inside——

I recoiled.

And completely took a step back.

Inside was a girl with a lit candle attached to her forehead using a headband.

She was dressed in a white robe, in her left hand was a straw doll, and in her right was a wooden mallet.

Long nails were also carefully placed in her pretty lips.

"Hoo haw."

Said the white-robed girl.

Or rather, she probably meant to say "you saw."

However, it didn't sound that way because of the nails in her lips.

"K- Krishna-san, is that you?"

I asked, and the red-framed, white-robed girl -- Krishna-san took the nails away from her mouth, glared at me, and said "You saw." It was a beautiful voice, like the ringing of a bell.

"I knocked."

"Aah, I noticed."

Krishna-san ranted and raved in exasperation.

"But unfortunately, I had nails in my mouth. That means I can't respond. I thought 'Whatever, I'll ignore it', but then the door opened anyway. Thanks to that, my secret experiment is ruined. Who opens the door when there's no response, anyways? Only a thief would open the door, so are you a thief?"

Yes, this petite girl who was so eloquent was ——

Shiina Kurimoto-san, or Krishna, the administrator of the largest occult site in the country.

Incidentally, even though she looks like a middle school girl working part-time as a shrine maiden, she's older than me. She was a twenty-year-old, third-year university student, so you shouldn't be fooled by her loli appearance. Her incredible knowledge and charisma with regards to the occult made her a supremely respected figure on the internet.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to ask you something." I began to speak, when—

"I have nothing to say to you." She simply replied.

"I told you not to come here anymore, didn't I? I said the same thing to you yesterday, and the day before that too, but you don't have the capacity to learn, do you? Or is this some kind of harassment?"

"Neither."

I bowed down for the time being and let myself into the room.

I looked around the clubroom once again and was dumbfounded to see how it had transformed. Blackout curtains covered the windows, and there were even shimenawa<ref>From wikipedia: lit. 'enclosing rope' are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimenawa</ref> adorned on all sides of the room. Salt had been piled in all four corners, and in the center flickered a single, large candle.

"I'm not sure, but ——"

I looked around at all those things and asked.

"Were you trying to curse someone to death?"

In response, she ripped the candle off her forehead and shouted.

"Fool! Do you think I’m someone who'd mess around with curses? This is an anti-cursing prohibition ritual. It is for returning curses, so to speak. 'Ikaigabuchi' contains a number of dangerous ‘Kotodama’<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotodama</ref>, depending on how they are used. I'm gathering all of those malicious intents within this doll and burning it —— in other words, I'm grounding them. It's a ritual that can't be seen by anyone else, but because of you --"

"Can't be seen...? What happens when it's seen?"

"The person who sees it gets grounded themselves."

"... Huh?"

Krishna-san silently grabbed my hair and pulled it toward her. She then grabbed what seemed to be a wooden stick with some runes on it from her desk and relentlessly pounded my back with it. It seemed to be an exorcism staff.

"... Ow, ow, it hurts!"

"I'm the one in pain. I had to figure out the date, time and direction of the sun, then gather expensive ritual equipment. Do you know how much time, money and effort went into preparing for this day!?"

Then don't forget to lock your door when you're doing something that important...

I wanted to say that, but I felt blessed, being able to experience Krishna-san’s voluptuous breasts up close, even as she whacked me relentlessly on the back with a stick. I thought her breasts were big, but when you're this close to her as she's grabbing your head, you can really feel their size. I wanted to enjoy the soft sensation a bit more, but after twenty-some odd strikes, she abruptly let go of me.

Huh? I raised my head and saw Krishna-san looking at me suspiciously with furrowed brows.

"You've been somewhere suspicious, haven't you?"

"....... What?"

"Strange. There should only be the two of us, but I can sense the presence of several people."

"Wait... please don’t say such creepy things."

"Where did you go?"

Krishna-san began sauntering over.

Her big eyes through her red glasses, which had slipped down a little, were right up to my nose.

"Don't tell me you're still seeing that Yoishi girl."

... Oh crap.

Ever since the recent incident, Krishna-san had held a grudge against Yoishi Mitsurugi. Well, it wasn’t surprising since she'd given me an answer that was unrelated to ghosts, and Yoishi had gone and made all of her effort come to naught -- but after that, she kept lecturing me on and on about not getting involved with Yoishi.

I thought about coming up with a story to get around this, but--

This person's intuition was terrifyingly good, and I was bad at lying to begin with.

"I won't get angry, so just tell me."

Krishna-san did an about face and smiled broadly, causing me to immediately loosen my tongue.

I told her how Yoishi and I had gone to the rumor-laden abandoned hospital in Hachiouji last night. About how the rumor that the number of people would change was a fact that Yoishi and the others had experienced. And how I found a notebook in the basement reference room, and saw the same large handwriting on the wall. Of course, I omitted the fact that she was sleeping in my apartment like a corpse, but I explained everything else in complete detail.

"... I see."

After I’d finished confessing, Krishna's smile turned hard.

"So you went to that hospital."

"... Yes."

"And with Yoishi Mitsurugi, of all people."

"... Yes."

"And you saw something and ran back home."

"... Yes."

"You are such—"

Articulating every syllable with feeling, she declared:

"…A hopeless ‘’idiot’’."

I was suddenly grabbed by my collar and slammed into a chair. Krishna-san picked up a pen and paper that was lying on the table, and drew a single line down the middle.

"Alright, listen carefully. This side of the line is where we live. In other words, this side of the Sanzu River. And the other side of the line is the other world, or the other side of the Sanzu River. When you try to learn about the other side, you cross the line. If you peek from this side, the other side will also always be able to see you."

She told me this every time we met, and I hung my head and listened.

"See, they say if you come close to someone with spiritual powers, your spiritual powers grow stronger as well, right? Well, that saying isn't quite right. When you view a paranormal incident, it means you're peering into the other world, and the sense of 'knowing' that comes with that is dangerous. If you know, then you'll always end up getting involved with ghosts, and that is a painful thing. It's like having someone stare at you up close all the time. In contemporary Japan, there is very little scientific research on this, and there are no organizations that will help you. You'll continue to suffer alone, eventually grow tired and choose to die."

Even as chilling thoughts ran through my head, I looked at Krishna-san and said:

"But... if that were to happen, you'd help me, right?"

"You--" Krishna-san blushed bright red and spat. "Idiot! Don't think of me as some superhero on TV. All I can do is acknowledge the existence of the other side, and warn people. If a paranormal disturbance actually occurs, all I can do is request help from those trained in that area, so in reality I can do almost nothing. Anyways, forget about that hospital. Also, you shouldn't see that girl again for the time being. And don't come here anymore."

Krishna-san said, trying to the end the conversation unilaterally. However, I wasn't one to agree and back down that easily.

"Then, tell me one thing. Was Yoishi really the reason for that incident six months ago? Even though she's the one that disappeared, why was it Zippo-san's acquaintance that was hospitalized?"

And then Krishna-san stared at me with a serious expression.

"... So that's how it is."

She mumbled, then let out a long sigh. She then sat in a chair, leaned back as she stared at the ceiling, scratched her bobbed hair, and finally spoke.

"You're trying to clear Yoishi Mitsurugi’s name."

"Well, um, how should I put it?"

To be honest, that wasn't the only reason. The irrepressible main ingredient of my personality: of wanting to see scary things, was probably also a factor. But I did notice the winds had shifted a bit in my favor, so I decided to keep the conversation going.

"In any case, I can't imagine Yoishi was the reason. But the writing on the wall, the disappearing people, and the word, 'pathetic' Yoishi had said —— I don't understand any of it."

Krishna-san nodded in agreement.

"I don't understand anything about that hospital either."

I was stunned as the occult site administrator, dressed in a shrine maiden outfit, explained:

"That place has too many stories about it. Even though this is a common trend for abandoned hospital-based haunted places, but even so, the rumors surrounding that hospital are too diverse. There are have been sightings of wheelchair-bound ghosts. There are inexplicable sounds. There are ghosts of nurses, ghosts of children. There are some that got lost, only to be hospitalized after their return. And now, people vanish entirely — the more information you get, the more inexplicable it gets... To be honest, I've never seen this pattern before."

Come to think of it--

Yoishi said something similar.

That this situation was rare, that her head hadn't come up with an answer yet.

"I understand lots of rumors crop up around eerie places, but the pattern of haunted places generally ties everything together with a single line. For instance, at the famous Hachiouji castle ruins, there are many sightings of samurai spirits due to the tragic tale of the castle’s fall<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachi%C5%8Dji_Castle</ref>, and near Married Couple Rocks, the ghosts of young men and women are often reported due to tragic love stories.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meoto_Iwa</ref> In other words, there's always a root behind the rumors. But the abandoned hospital lacks that. Instead, it's like a wild tree, with each branch growing as it pleases —— and the speed of its growth is frightening. I've seen lots of haunted places, but even ''I'' don't know the truth to that one."

Even this person has things she doesn't know.

It was a somewhat fresh surprise, and I once again felt how profound the world of the occult was, when——

"Nevertheless..."

Krishna-san furrowed her brows.

"Those words on the wall are bad."

"Bad? Why?"

However, Krishna-san didn't reply, instead abruptly asking.

"First of all, what do you think ghosts are?"

"Ghosts?"

I went "hmm", and conveyed the first thing that popped to mind.

"You know, the ones that are often depicted in paintings and so on, having a grudge with their hands hanging down."

"I see, the triangular hood with the burial clothes, is it? Well, that’s pretty typical, but--"

Krishna-san stood up and took out what looked to be an old album from the bookshelf.

"What does this look like?"

A third of the photo on the page she flipped to was a vast expanse of land, and the rest was a clear, blue sky that cut through all the rest. It was probably somewhere in Hokkaidou or somewhere. A concrete-paved road stretched on, and densely packed areas of grass fluttered on either side of it. The rest was white clouds and a blue sky. It looked like a pleasant landscape photo that could be used in a tourist brochure.

"What does it look like? —— Welcome to a summer in Hokkaidou, that sort of thing?"

"Look carefully."

Krishna-san's cute fingers pointed at the blue sky.

A cumulonimbus cloud parallel to the ground, and a cirrocumulus cloud far above—

"Huh?"

... Do cumulonimbus clouds and cirrocumulus clouds appear at the same time?

When I realized that, I felt goosebumps.

...Wrong.

This wasn't a cirrocumulus cloud — it was a face.

Countless, white, hollow faces floated in the sky.

"... Eeeep!"

Krishna-san gave me a slight smile as I jumped back and as she slammed the album shut.

"According to the person who is my teacher, it is said that people who die with lingering regrets in this world stay behind in some form or another. Sometimes with just an arm, and sometimes with just an eye. In other words, it's rare for them to retain their human form. Moreover, after some time, they end up forgetting what it was they regretted in the first place. In short, they become just hollow, floating matter — however, this hollow, floating matter can combine."

"Combine... like, together?"

"Yes. Be it dogs, cats or humans, ghosts that just float aimlessly combine. And they expand without end. My teacher said the largest he'd seen was the size of Mount Fuji. A giant mass covered with painful expressions throughout was just wandering above the ocean."

I was horrified at the thought of that scene.

A giant mass formed only with countless dog, cat, and human heads. Countless negative emotions stretched out across the sky. Then the sky I was always casually looking up at — was full of such things floating around? Could it be that the clouds I'd been looking up at weren't even clouds at all?

"Who knows. Whatever the case may be, that floating matter slowly disappears over time. There are those who've seen ghosts of warriors, but I've never heard of sightings of Jomon ghosts<ref> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dmon_period</ref>. Apparently, there are reasons for that, but it takes a significant amount of time, like hundreds of years, for them to disappear. In other words, there are still countless, enormous globs of ghosts floating around this world — and here’s the problem: when they get caught in some kind of spiritual magnetic field, they stop there. For instance, enormous sacred grounds areas, or murder scenes with tremendous amounts of hate — they have a tendency to stay at those places. So, in other words, that’s—"

Ahh, I finally understood.

In other words, that’s what’s called a haunted place.

The presence of countless people I felt yesterday in that abandoned hospital. Countless stares.

Recalling those presences, which still lingered on my skin, I once again felt a chill crawl down my spine.

"And, the problem goes back to the words you saw on the wall."

Krishna-san pushed her glasses up and continued.

"I don't know what kind of idiot made their prank, but it continued the words from the notebook, 'Please fix my sickness' with 'I'll do whatever you ask if you fix me.' It became context. In short, it created meaning."

I swallowed, and Krishna-san asked.

"What happens when you give meaning to a place where a collection of ghosts floating aimlessly, gather?"

I felt something cold down my spine.

"They desperately seek meaning. They must seek meaning because they’re existence is so weak."

I suddenly imagined a mass of floating thoughts turning to look towards me at the same time. That collection of countless faces was probably imagined them from the photo I'd just seen — and suddenly, those blank stares overlapped with Yoishi's glass bead-like gaze.

"You wanted to clear her name, I can respect the intent behind the action."

Krishna-san, muttered with a somewhat distant stare.

"But there are some things people shouldn't see."

I felt my heart freeze.

"In reality, this shore and that shore are designed to be separate. That girl Yoishi, easily crosses the boundary. And that is an extremely dangerous thing. Her words and deeds include things that people must not know. No — something that people inherently know, but because they have chosen to forget, they remain people. Yet her words contain them."

Her words—

I felt like I had solved the mystery of why Yoishi's words bewildered me so.

I felt that even if Krishna-san said the same thing, I would only be excited, but when she said them, it felt like the something would shift out of place. As if the walls of common sense I’d believed in were crumbling — I’d feel uneasy, as if I didn't know where I was standing. That's what I experienced last time, and this time as well.

"Unfortunately, though, it's very difficult to save children like that."

Krishna-san looked somewhat lonely—

And I thought.

She must have tried saving people like that with all her strength in the past. But she was unable to in the end. Maybe Yoishi resembled someone in her past, and even if I were wrong--

I'd lost the will to keep asking questions.

I somewhat understood what my own limits were. My mental strength, my assertiveness, my knowledge about ghosts, they were nothing compared to the baby-faced administrator in front of me. Yoishi too, would continue jumping into the paranormal even if I were to try stopping her. And I, a stranger, can't keep following her every time.

To clear Yoishi's name—

Was something way beyond my powers, I realized.

"... Thank you very much, for everything."

As I stood up weakly, hoisting my bag over my shoulder, Krishna-san handed me a white bag.

"This is coarse salt purified by Susanoo no Mikoto from the Imamiya temple. Place this by the entrance to your room for a week. If something odd happens, let me know immediately."

"Yes," I answered, as I opened the door.

"Oh, yes."

Krishna called me from behind.

"You didn't take anything out from that hospital, did you?"

I laughed as I stepped out into the hallway.

"I'm not that reckless." I said, and closed the door.

I went out into the hallway, and proceeded down the dark concrete path — as I clutched my head in my hands.

I wanted to tell her everything, but I was unable to, due to my stupidity.

I opened my bag and took out a notebook.

It was the notebook with ‘Please fix my sickness’ written in it.