Phenomeno:Case 14

Case 14: In the Mirror

Since the accident – I had forgotten something.

That memory slipped in and out of view at the back of my head. It was as if it had been crudely overwritten with a pen, rather than having been wiped clean by an eraser.

I believe it was a ‘person’.

I knew that person in the past. And I’m sure I met them in the hospital room.

They came to inquire about my health with flowers… but I screamed when I saw them, and lost consciousness.

Just what the hell had made me so afraid?

What was it about them that scared me to the point that I lost consciousness?

And why – did someone cross a line on my memories? And when?

That’s right… that was the starting point. Back then, who else was in the hospital room besides me? My sister flew in from Fujieda a little later…. To begin with, who was in the room when I first regained consciousness?

Krishna-san, and—

And the moment I recalled the foxlike grin on his face, everything seemed to click together.

….It was Sako.

Didn’t that rotten priest do something strange to me again?

I finally realized this in the university courtyard at the start of the new school semester--

And I immediately skipped my first period class of ‘Macroeconomics’ on the opening day. I ran out of there and hurried to the western club building.

My body was now physically fit. A scar remained on my right elbow, where the stitches and surrounding flesh had discolored, but it didn’t really hurt anymore.

I cut through the courtyard, passed through the gate of the western club building, jumped into the entrance by pushing my way through the packed bicycles, and ran up the stairs. I was headed to the third floor, to the liberal arts clubroom that was ostensibly known as the ‘Beatnik Research Society’.

And—

When I came up to the third floor, I quickly caught sight of that petite figure.

The head of the Beatnik Research Society, Shiina Kurimoto-san had closed the door to the clubroom and was about to lock it.

“Krishna-san!”

“….Hm?”

“Krishna-san! T, there’s something I want to ask!”

I rushed to her side, out of breath. Krishna-san was dressed in a spring-like outfit: a striped cut-and-sewn navy-blue spring coat, and she looked up at me about three heads below me with a puzzled expression on her face.

“What is it, Nagi-kun? What’s the hurry? I was just about to go somewhere.”

The baby face peeking behind those drooping red glasses, was as cute as always. I immediately felt relaxed and asked.

“Going somewhere? Don’t you have a lecture?”

Of course, you could say that question had the slightly ulterior motive of asking if I could go with her.

“Where are you going? You can’t possibly be going to investigate some haunted place?”

I unintentionally cracked that kind of joke, causing her to glare back at me instantly.

“’Ikaigabuchi’ has been disbanded. No more investigations, ever.”

“R…right.”

“The taxi will be here in a few minutes. If you have a question, then hurry up and ask.”

--A few minutes.

I wondered if I could explain such a vague and complicated story in just a few minutes.

I was in the middle of trying to arrange the information required to the bare minimum and arrange my tense feelings into logic, worrying about whether to tell her about the strange voice of the young girl I had heard in the abandoned house recently, but, that would be disobeying her order, even though she was drunk and sleepy back when she suddenly stood up and rebuked the tough guys of ‘Ikaigabuchi’ to stop—and as my thoughts swirled and swirled over such things,

“Oh, that’s right.”

I heard a clear voice.

“Would you like to come?”

“…Eh?”

“It’s a little far though. Let’s talk in the taxi on the way.”

◯

“There lives ‘An old man who became unable leave his mansion’ in the place we’re headed to now.”

Right around the time the taxi exited Itsukaichikaidō into Oumekaidō, Krishna-san said that.

“Became unable? Why? Is he really fat?”

“…That’s not it. It seems the old man saw something in the village he lived in long ago. The story is related to that.”

Things had suddenly taken on an occult air, so I straightened my posture. I was, of course, very welcome to it.

“The old man’s name is Ryouichi Mamiya. He is the chairman of ‘Mamiya Motors’, a company listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange with a sixty percent share of the domestic market. He built a fortune in his lifetime, and now, he doesn’t have long to live. He built a mansion in the suburbs and has kept himself confined inside for many years. There are people who take care of him, but he never goes outside the mansion.”

“Eh, wait a minute. He doesn’t go outside? By choice?”

“I’ll explain that in detail from now on, but in short, the people surrounding him think that it’s his choice, but the old man can’t leave even if he wanted to.”

“…….”

“And the person in question is half prepared to live out his life in that mansion. It seems he's already had a will prepared-- which was also controversial. 『After I die, half of my fortune will be donated to the syndicate, and the remaining half will be equally divided among my relatives. However -- if there is a person who takes me out of the mansion while I am still alive, my entire fortune will be handed over to them.』”

“Eh…?”

“That's right. From the relatives’ point of view, that is intolerable. If they wait until he died, they would receive a portion of the half, but if someone were to take the old man out of the mansion, their inheritance would become zero. Since that day, the relatives began to visit the old man. Everyone would invite him to a beautiful summer retreat, or they would invite him to come and see expensive art pieces they went to the trouble of borrowing from abroad. Among them was a fool who pretended to have caught a giraffe by having a deer go through orthopedic surgery, and got sued by animal rights activists.”

“…Hah.”

“Well, it's understandable, because when real estate and bonds are included, his total assets are said to easily exceed 700 billion.”

“So, why are you headed over there, Krishna-san?”

“Well, you see Mamiya-san has always endorsed the goal behind ‘Ikaigabuchi’. He kept donating money to me all these years. I was also asked by his family if ‘I could do something’ – so I thought I might be useful somehow.”

“Does that mean you'll bring that old man outside?”

“No, I'm just going to talk to him. Returning to the main point, it seems the reason the old man said something like that was because it stemmed from something he saw in the village a long time ago. The client said that if that were to be settled, then he would cancel that strange will, -- but well, I wonder if that's really true. At any rate, I thought it was the least I could do for everything he’s done for me.”

“I see.”

There are people in the world who are troubled by bizarre things -- but on the other hand, one doubt remained in my head.

“But, why did you bring me along?””

“…Eh?”

“I mean, you're always saying that I'm not allowed, that I'm absolutely not allowed to involve myself with the occult! You stop me a bit unreasonably, so I just thought it was strange.”

Krishna-san muttered slightly in response, “That’s true”, and then hung her head down, trying to arrange all her thoughts in that small brow of hers.

“Right… I’ve always stopped you from involving yourself with the occult.”

“Yes.”

“I thought it wasn’t good for you to be in contact with the people who were close to the occult…but actually, I’ve been in two minds about that recently.”

“In two minds? About what?

“No matter how much I tried to stop you, you would always end up barging into the occult. For a long time, I thought that was because of your simple and foolish nature, and I thought you were wrong, but—could it be your only…”

“My only?”

“…No, nothing.”

Thereupon, Krishna-san held her tongue and looked at the flowing scenery outside, “I still haven't figured it out.”

I, too, became lost in my thoughts. Come to think of it, how many times have we had the same conversation? A paranormal event occurs. I get excited. Krishna-san stops me. However, in the end, my curiosity wins out, and I barge into dangerous territory, and end up in tears-- It felt like that kind of thing had repeated all year long.

Wait—huh?

Thereupon I felt like a piece was missing.

The thing that had been crossed in my mind, appeared vaguely once more.

“Recently—I’ve been seeing a lot of articles on racial conflicts on international news websites.”

Suddenly, Krishna-san spoke of something I didn’t understand at all.

“Racial conflicts?”

“There are countless races living in this world, all with their own values, religions and cultures. The Middle East conflict, Cyprus, Kurds, Somalia, Chechnya, Afghanistan – Looking around Asia, it’s full of problems. And the end result is a cycle of abuse, leading to conflict. People instinctually fear those who are different from themselves. There are still only a few people who can accept different races and cultures universally. It is human nature to fear and defend oneself -- but when they go too far, they might lead to intimidation of others.”

“...”

“Say, Nagi-kun. Why do you think wars happen?”

Thereupon, Krishna-san looked in my direction.

“Do they happen for territory? Are they economic activities resulting from the complexly intertwined interests of major powers? No, isn’t the real reason they happen, and the impetus behind them, a needless fear? And, in turn, didn’t that come from the abuse against those with different values. No matter how much we may think we are enlightened, we are still subjective creatures. Conversely, without subjectivity, it would be difficult to sustain life, and it is only with the assurance of escaping to a safe zone that we can be considerate of others. Words like maturity or moral standards only come about when people have enough food and clothing. When natural disasters that turn heaven and earth upside down occur, or when the myth of safety is shattered, how many people must have hurt others without any grounds simply on their emotions? Isn't the history of human conflict a history of abuse towards others?”

Having spoken that far in a single breath, Krishna-san took a short break, and hung her head down once more as if embarrassed of herself for raising her voice.

“That’s why-- when people start abusing others on a global scale, I always get anxious. It’s as if something terrible has quietly started somewhere... I end up feeling that the world is headed in an awful direction.”

“Um... How is that related to what we’re talking about here?

I asked, ‘Ah’, Krishna-san strangely got flustered and blushed.

“... I think I've reached a dead end in the way I do things.”

“…Eh?”

“I've been trying to keep you safe, to stop you from involving yourself in the occult this far… but that might have actually been the wrong thing to do. I think I ended up bringing you along because I’ve begun to doubt myself about that recently.”

◯

“Don’t you think that human society is slowly rotting away?”

The old man with the gleaming face of a wax doll asked gleefully.

Krishna-san and I looked at each other, and he continued.

“Awful things – truly awful things have started happening in every corner of the world. Don't you think that the balance that had been miraculously maintained until now has begun to decline far beyond the intelligence of the average human being? No, well, anyone with a modicum of knowledge could have seen this coming, but at long last, our foolish leaders have finally begun to realize and begun to panic.”

Right now, we were in an area of villas deep in Okutama.

It was the home of the aforementioned ‘Old man who became unable leave his mansion’. And the person before us was the old man in question.

Even though it was spring, it was still cold here. The cold air seeped in through the windows, as if the vestiges of winter had missed their chance to return and hung lazily over the house. Perhaps that was the reason why the fireplace of the living room of about 33 square meters in size still had a fire lit in it.

The old man who was sitting deep in a rocking chair in front of it was watching me and Krishna-san, who were sitting on the leather sofa, with great interest.

“Communication is important in order to get along well with others, but to achieve smooth communication, the same level of intellect is required. In short, it means that the smarter person has to match the stupid one in order for the conversation to take place. However, do you think that countries with high moral standards can conduct diplomacy with uncivilized nations on equal terms? Do you think there is a future of the world like that where the wise can get along with the fools? That will only give birth to stagnation. There is no progress in that. It’s impossible in the world of wild animals, where the weak are inevitably abandoned. Ethics, morality, morals—in the world of today, we say wonderful things, like ‘Let’s protect the weak’, or ‘Let’s create a world that’s good for the weak’. However, morals that go too far will threaten to turn the weak into the strong. Everyone pulls the legs of the exceedingly superior individual and drags them down to the ground and beats him with a stick. Isn’t that the rotten state the world finds itself in today?”

I was listening quietly—

I thought this might have been the ‘abuse’ Krishna-san spoke of.

“—Now then, it’s been a long time, Kurimoto-kun.”

--*Cough*, the old man’s wrinkled face contorted. Apparently, he laughed.

“It has been a long time since my last visit.”

Krishna-san too bowed her bobbed head down.

“I visited you in your home in Tokyo many times, but I wasn’t aware that you had moved here, my apologies.”

“It’s fine. I’m sure the people in the house must have been troubled about how to explain it. Ah…I heard that you closed down ‘Ikaigabuchi’.”

“Yes, I went too far and forgot my place.”

“…Is that so? I thought you had the right goal, and I don’t think there was anyone better qualified to do what you set out to do.”

“No…it’s truly shameful to abandon my goal with your contribution over many years—but I thought it was impossible for me to go any further.”

“…Hmm.”

The old man stopped moving like a broken doll, and then added, “Well, please relax and take your time.”

“No, actually, I can’t relax that much.”

Thereupon, she stopped speaking, and spoke again after having made up her mind.

“To tell you the truth, there's another reason I've come here today besides the matter of Ikaigabuchi’s closure. I've been asked by your family to get you out of this house.”

“I see.”

The old man looked at Krishna-san in amusement and gave a large nod.

“That’s why I gave that talk at the beginning.”

“…Eh?”

“The story where the weak being discarded in the world was ideal. In short, I, who am old, and sick, is to put it in clear terms, a weak creature, and it is right that I should be abandoned. I believe that it comes from animals originally. In the past, there used to be stories about mountains where old people were abandoned. Among wild animals, there are those with the nature of hiding themselves when they feel their death is near. I am merely imitating that; it seems my will to be left alone was not recognized.”

…This guy.

For the first time, I realized that this old man, who was like a withered tree, was not an ordinary old man. Ryouichi Mamiya had realized the reason we were here since the start – that’s why, he started off with that bewildering story.

“However.”

Krishna-san straightened her posture and spoke.

“From the conversation we’ve had up until now, I can say that you have intelligence, and judgement. I believe that long as a person is human and has intelligence and reason, they are human. And I believe people as people have a guarantee to a dignified life.”

“This is dignified. Staying shut in here, and dying quietly alone is the only thing dignified left for me.”

“By abandoning your family? Is it dignified to throw away everything in your life up until now and shut yourself in here? If that's the case, then at the risk of sounding quite presumptuous, I believe you should clearly make out your inheritance. It might be harsh to say-- but if you were to do that, then no one would complain about your actions. It seems to me that your strange will has on the contrary, created a lot of commotion around you.”

“...”

In response, the old man narrowed the countless wrinkles around his eyes, and gazed at Krishna-san.

“How much have you heard?”

“How much, you ask?”

“About my story.”

“I'll be honest with you.”

Krishna-san spoke as if accepting the old man's gaze.

“I heard that one day, you became afraid of mirrors. That's why you made this mansion with no mirrors anywhere and shut yourself in here. And soon after that you made that will -- and, that it all started with something you saw in a cave in a village long ago. I haven't heard anything besides that.”

“Do you want to hear the rest of it?”

“...”

“Will you learn the rest of it-- and solve the mystery that has plagued me for so many years?”

“I can't guarantee that I will solve it but, I'll help you as much as I can.”

“That's fine.”

The old man contorted his wrinkled face once more, sat back deeper in his chair, and slowly closed his eyes. The room fell into silence for a while after that. Birds were chirping outside the window, and the occasional crackling of firewood was all that could be heard.

“The thing…that I saw… in the darkness of the cave back then, were eyes.”

…Eh?

“They were beautiful eyes. They appeared in the darkness.”

“Sometimes the truly terrifying things are beautiful to the point where they feel out of this world.”

◯

“It happened shortly after the war, in a certain village, was a certain man.”

The old man began to narrate in pieces, Krishna-san and I became absorbed and bent ourselves forward before we’d realized.

“The man had a good friend. A childhood friend who would accompany him whenever he went hunting or to the fields. But one day, they ended up deep in the forest in pursuit of a beast, and arrived at a certain cave. They had been told that a beast of unknown origin dwelled inside since long ago, and that they should not go near it. It was said to be powerful, fast, and had a strong stink. Some said it had red eyes. That it had learned human speech, and was said to have devoured humans at times.”

A gulp rang in my throat.

“They were both still young, burning with ambition. Furthermore, they were both rivals in love over a young girl in the village, so they entered inside as if vying for the achievement. The entrance of the cave was dark and cramped. The two had a flame alight as they ventured ahead with hunting rifles in hand. They slowly made their way through a long, long, cold space of rock and earth. Eventually, they saw something white beyond the light. It was a shimenawa. A thick and ancient shimenawa rope that blocked their progress. Next to it stood a sign that read: 『Those who continue ahead from here will have no guarantee of their life』. They looked at each other and hesitated for a moment. But in the end, they cut through the shimenawa with the nata they had. It was a cliché at the entrance of forbidden places, but more than anything, the excitement that prey was near won out above all else. In those days, everyone was always hungry, and animals with protein were exceedingly valuable. They must have imagined the joy of the people of the village, and consequently, the joyous face of the girl they both favored. However, as they ventured further, they soon encountered a second shimenawa blocking the path. There was indeed another sign on a post that read: 『Those who continue ahead from here will have no guarantee of their friend.』”

“—Friend?”

Thereupon, Krishna-san interjected. The old man nodded in a relaxed manner.

“That's right, friend. The two looked at each other. And then nodded to one another. The two had fought and scuffled countless times since childhood, and had a strange mutual trust in each other. An overconfident trust in the other, thinking that this guy wouldn't be done in so easily. On those grounds, they cut the shimenawa once more. They continued further ahead, and eventually, beyond the darkness, they smelled a bloody smell together with the faint sense of something breathing. The man thought that it was the prey they had come chasing. Just when he thought he was almost there, the final shimenawa appeared. What was written on there was, 『Those who continue ahead from here will have no guarantee of their name.』”

“…Name?”

This time, I was the one who unintentionally ended up repeating it. In response, the old man creased the tree-like wrinkles around the edges of his mouth.

“Having already been threatened with their lives and their friend, would something like ‘name’ threaten them at this stage? The two enthusiastically cut through the shimenawa. Thinking about it now, the two being there together was the sin. If it had only been one of them, they might have returned to the village at the first shimenawa. No, they might have returned right from the entrance of the cave. The two continued further, relying indeed on their mutual trust and stubbornness.”

“......”

“The darkness -- thickened.”

The old man's voice seemed low, and even hoarser.

“No matter where he aimed the light from his torch, it was a strange darkness that seemed to coil around him, making him unable to see what lay ahead. Eventually the man realized that the earth was slanting down. Could this be the slope that led to the land of the dead? Wasn’t the land of the dead further ahead of here? Before he realized, the man's knees were shaking. He asked himself over and over if he could still go back. However, at that moment, someone's voice reached his ears. The man looked at his friend, who was supposed to be walking next to him. He couldn't see him clearly in the darkness, but he didn't seem to be talking to him or looking at him. The man wondered if he was imagining things, but as he continued, someone’s whispers did indeed reach his ears. The man tried to listen carefully to the voice. The voice spoke: 『You two have entered a place that you were not supposed to enter. You disregarded three warnings and stepped in. Therefore, I will take your life, your friend, and your name.』 It was the next moment that the man almost shouted out involuntarily. He saw eyes in the darkness. Clear, beautiful eyes were floating in the air. The man was drawn to those eyes – when suddenly, something violently covered him from behind. He ended up dropping the torch to the ground, and screamed out loud. A foul stench filled his surroundings. He did not know if it was the beast they had chased, or an ancient mountain god rumored from long ago-- But driven by terror, the man recklessly thrust the nata in his hand at the foul stench in the darkness.…”

Thereupon the old man stopped speaking, and in exchange the sound of my throat gulping rang out. Eventually Krishna-san asked him.

“So, what happened then?”

“…I don't know.”

“You don't know?”

“The smell of the beast, the smell of blood--when the man came to, he was collapsed at the entrance of the cave. The dried blood of something stuck to his face, his clothes, and the hunting rifle and nata he should have held were nowhere to be found. In their stead-- he was holding someone else's arm that was already drained of blood. A left arm.”

…Eek.

As I was flinching, I heard Krishna-san’s small throat gulp.

“I don't know who that arm belonged to. The man seemed to have come to his senses a few days after he left that cave. The arm was already in the process of decomposing, and in the end, his friend never returned. The man, who had broken out in a high fever, was somehow rescued by the villagers who had come to search for him, and he was exercised at the village temple. A funeral was held for the friend and the arm, whose owner was unknown, was buried. Time passed by, and with the death of his friend who was his rival in love, the man married the girl in due course. He took over the family and worked hard to forget the nightmare of that day. He survived the chaos of the post-war years, and before he realized, he had grown old, and amassed a considerable fortune -- until one day, he began to dream. Something was moving beyond the darkness that extended in all directions. Something without one arm shakes its head, searching for something. And when it notices the man’s presence, it comes toward him with great speed.”

“…”

“Was that his friend…or the thing that spoke to him in the back of the cave …. The man would always wake up drenched in sweat… and, only one sentence would always remain echoing in his ear.”

“In the mirror.”

“…Mirror.”

--Was that where the mirror came in?

“Yes, that’s why the man became afraid to look in the mirror. He had not seen his own reflection for decades. He even became afraid of seeing his own reflection in the window and such. At any rate, he built a mansion without mirrors and shut himself inside.”

I unconsciously looked around the room. I indeed saw no sign of anything that resembled a mirror in this room, or in any of the corridors I passed through when I came here. Looking carefully, I understood, but, the windows were also tightly bound with lace curtains so that they couldn’t be opened.

“Now then Kurimoto-kun, what do you think? Did you figure out what the thing inside the mirror is?”

“—No.”

Krishna-san bit her lip.

“Unfortunately, I still haven't.”

“…As expected. Well, it’s fine. To begin with, I would be troubled if I were to be given the answer so simply.”

The old man smiled again like a wrinkled tree.

“There are many guest rooms in this mansion. Please take your time.”

After saying that, he quietly closed his eyes as if drifting to sleep.

◯

As the servant prompted us out, and we entered the corridor, I was struck by the sensation that time had suddenly begun to move.

I was relieved to find that I was in Okutama, a world where time functioned properly, and that there was air here. I guess that’s how much I had been drawn into the strange story of the old man, Ryouichi Mamiya.

As I walked down the corridor, stepping firmly on the dark red carpet, Krishna-san stopped suddenly ahead of me. I looked to see that she had her face up to the wall of the corridor. I went up next to her, and saw several framed black-and-white photographs adorned alongside it.

“I guess it must be Mamiya-san and his friend who passed away.”

Krishna-san spoke.

Two men stood side-by-side as they smiled in the monochrome picture. They were both young and had nice smiles.

One of them was indeed the old man. I thought he must have been quite handsome when he was young, but-- this was amazing. I never thought I'd go so far as to say that a man was smoking hot, but I'll say it now. A bright young man who reminded me of a movie actor was smiling and showing his white teeth. And the other man projected in the photograph must have been the friend who disappeared in the cave. Compared to Mamiya-san, He didn't look as graceful, but he still had a beaming smile aimed towards us. And, seeing his left arm still attached to his body, something bitter rose up in me.

“What do you think?”

After being introduced to our respective guest rooms on the second floor, and as soon as the servant departed, I went to Krishna-san’s room and asked her.

The bobbed hair occult website manager was sitting in her bed with her fist to her lips, ‘Hmmm’.

“It feels like Mamiya-san’s sense of guilt of ‘Having abandoned his friend and coming this far’ has taken form. I think the guilt is too heavy for him to accept his current success as a reward for which he worked so hard to redeem himself. On the contrary, the more wealth he accumulated, the stronger it might have become.”

“... Ah, I see.”

“A cave that was deemed forbidden. The prey that took refuge within. The era where food was scarce, I don't think that is something to be persistently blamed for. However, what I don't understand is the voice he heard, the thing that assaulted him from the depths of the darkness. The possibility is high that it was an auditory hallucination, or a delusion borne from fear -- but, in the chance that it was neither of those, then I should have searched for the meaning behind it.”

“Should have…? Eh, do you mean to say that you already went to investigate that cave?”

“Yeah.”

Krishna-san simply nodded.

“It was about a week ago. I went to the cave in question. The entrance was still cordoned off with a new shimenawa, a small shrine had been erected, and it was sealed off so that no one could enter. I heard from the shrine that managed the small shrine that it had completely caved in only a few meters in its depths. According to the chief priest, a deity of unknown origin had originally been enshrined in the cave. There were also theories that it was dedicated to a fleeing samurai in the closing years of the Heian period or to a mountain god, but in the end the origin wasn't well understood. Even in the village, it is buried in the dark of history as something that was already over. I felt I was being indirectly pressured not to dig in too deeply into it.”

“Huh.”

All I could do was stroke my chin, and nod.

“But... This house, it's amazing, isn't it? Is he living alone in a place that's big enough for a family of ten? Was the Mamiya family rich to begin with?”

“He seemed to have been an influential person of the village, but even so, he must have been wealthy for a villager’s standard. That person built his fortune through hard work up until now. That earnest effort must have originated from the feeling of atonement towards his friend -- but perhaps it was also a kind of possession or curse.”

I nodded once more, ‘I see’ -- And asked.

“Then, what are you going to do, Krishna-san?”

“Hm?”

“When are we going back? It's already evening, even if we were to call a taxi….”

“…Ah. I think I'd like to stay for a few days here if I'm allowed to.”

“Eh?”

“It's fine if you go back. No, you should go back. Your lectures will have started already.”

“…No, well, that is the case, but what are you planning on doing by staying here for a few days?”

“I believe this is also a form of exorcism. I want to do something as thanks for all the years I've been supported for ‘Ikaigabuchi’.”

Krishna-san spoke as she bit her lips—

However, could she really do that? No, it might be possible that she could loosen the hardened guilty conscience of the old man by listening to his stories…but, could she really do that by staying here for only a few days.

I looked outside the window for some reason. The sun had already begun to set, and it was getting darker by the minute. There were hardly any houses or even power lines along the way, so the surroundings would completely sink into darkness.

Ugh… what should I do? Well, I could do something about university, but I still had my part-time job, and I didn’t even bring any spare clothes to begin with. There didn’t seem to be any convenience stores nearby, and in the first place, just how was I going to go back home alone from here by myself?

As I thought that,

“…Ah.”

A voice suddenly escaped Krishna-san.

“Why didn’t I realize it before—the warnings in the cave Mamiya-san saw.”

“Eh?”

“Listen, first it was 『Those who continue ahead from here will have no guarantee of their ‘life’』. Next was 『Those who continue ahead from here will have no guarantee of their ‘friend’』. And at the end it was 『Those who continue ahead from here will have no guarantee of their ‘name’』. If we take ‘life’ as his friend not returning, and if we take the ‘friend’ as the friend Mamiya-san lost —then what about the ‘name’ at the end?”

I suddenly felt a chill down my back as if something slithered through.

It was—about that. It appeared in my head because for the past few days, I’d been flooded with all kinds of strange talk about ‘names’.

‘Um’, I asked.

“Krishna-san, have you heard of ‘The Scholomance university of magic’?”

“…Hm?”

“It was said to have existed in the Balkan peninsula or something.”

That was the university of witches that the mysterious young girl whispered to me about. And originally, it was blurted out by the enigmatic Noh faced man I met in front of university that day.

“I heard that the disciples of the witch were made to dedicate themselves to researching the origins of names of things in that university.”

“Well, that’s very knowledgeable of you.”

I received a rare complement.

“The Scholomance university of magic is an ancient European legend of obscure origin that has passed down through the ages. It is said that the university has a large library where you could research the true names of every event and creature in this world. According to one theory, it might perhaps be another name for the Akashic Records, but there are still very few references to it in Japan… and I thought I would go research it in more detail once, and…huh? How did you find out about such an obscure story?”

“Well, ummm… I think it was on the net? I forgot, haha.”

In a panic, I made something up,

“Anyway, I recalled it with the word ‘name’. Why were the disciples of the witch made to only repeat the same thing – in short, why were they made to only research the origin of the names of things? Are things like names really that important?”

“They are. Names are what bind the entirety of living things to the world. To wear the W in witch, would ultimately mean to forget who you are. Conversely, if one were to regain their ‘true name’, the worn ‘W’ would be--”

Thereupon, Krishna-san suddenly sunk into silence. Her head was slung down, gesturing as if she were biting down her nails with her fingers to her lips.

“Krishna-san?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Saying that, Krishna-san gave a forced smile.

However, that smile illuminated by the sunset looked exceedingly fleeting—

I was suddenly seized with the illusion that she would end up disappearing.

Unconsciously, I was about to reach out my hand to her soft cheeks to keep her tied down to this world.

“Anyway, I’ll be staying here for a little longer.”

The bobbed haired former occult site manager declared to me in a mechanical voice.

“—You can do as you like.”

◯

At night, the chirping of the insects became even more terrible.

On top of that, the cries of some unknown mountain bird echoed from deep in the mountains.

Hyaeeeeee… it was a creepy voice, like that of an old woman crying out. I turned over in my sleep, thinking that if that was the type of sound heard by people in ancient times, then it’s no wonder that they thought that monsters lived in the mountains.

It was already half past one o'clock. In the end, I took the favor from the Mamiya household and stayed there. I was served a supper of wild vegetables in a hotpot, and I was even offered to take a bath which made it feel like I was at a resort, but it felt disgusting that I couldn’t change my underwear---well, that’s not it, these murky feelings weren’t because of underwear.

They arose from having completely deviated from my original objective. To begin with, I was going to ask Krishna-san to elaborate on what happened when I woke up in the hospital.

Who was it that came to visit me in the hospital room that day? The fact that I screamed when I saw them—and, why did I end up forgetting everything about them in the present? I went to the clubroom to ask her those things, but I, who have a reputation for being the best in the Kanto region at getting involved in the creepiest things there are, was as expected, being swept away once more. Before I realized, I ended up staying overnight at a mansion in the mountains. But—well, I’m together with Krishna-san this time, so I’m not too worried. That was fine, but the problem was the murky figure of someone who kept appearing and disappearing beyond the haze in my head.

They were slender and dark. I felt a chill and creepiness, but at the same time it was an awfully nostalgic, and loving feeling. The voice I heard the other day in ‘The Overlapping House’ felt the same. Was the person I ended up forgetting, the owner of that voice? I couldn’t help but feel -- that I had stepped foot into the depths of darkness countless times in the past together with that voice.

『…Hey, are you scared?』

Suddenly, that voice like a ringing bell passed through my ears once more.

It was accompanied by goosebumps and reminded me of a strange loneliness. And at the same time, an excitement of twisted delight. A floating feeling as if nothing lay beneath my feet--and paradoxically, an adventurous pleasure which made me strongly feel that I was alive.

That’s right, at any rate, my real feelings at this point were—

That I wanted to meet them once more. I absolutely hated the thought of never seeing them again.

Before I realized, I had sat up.

A mountain bird cried out again somewhere, and the pale blue moonlight peeked in through the window curtains.

“…Ah, I see.”

In the deep mountains, a mansion inhabited by an old man who could not leave the mansion. It was a situation that twisted just enough, and yet. Even though a ghost story that somehow didn’t add up was right there— but why aren’t you here anywhere?

That was the kind of loneliness I was feeling.

When—

Suddenly, I heard two knocks on the door.

I thought I might have misheard and merely stared at the door from my bed, when—

“…Nagi-kun, are you awake?”

I heard Krishna-san’s voice.

“I, I’m awake.”

I rushed to the door and placed my hand on the doorknob and opened it.

In the dark corridor, Krishna-san stood small and quiet dressed in strawberry pajamas.

--Gwah—Cute, super cute.

Why was she clutching a pillow, is what I wanted to ask her until morning, but this was Krishna-san we’re talking about, it wasn’t because she wanted to sleep together in my room or something like that, but rather, she was just anxious about something and carried it with her. Then, the problem was, just what made her anxious enough to go running to a man’s room in the middle of the night?

“W-w-what’s wrong?”

I asked, and in reply, “Is it alright for a bit?” She apologetically pointed inside my room.

I vigorously nodded. I’ll say it once more, but this person’s maturity with regards to the subtleties between men and women stopped at the middle school level, so this was in no way a night crawl. It was not – but as expected, my heart which was in its springtime of life couldn’t help but throb rapidly to the point of bursting at the sight of her entering in a single thin pajama in in the middle of the night.

Krishna-san pitter-pattered into the room and sat down on a chair next to the table by the window, and while still clutching her pillow, breathed a sigh.

“…Ummm.”

I called out to her, respectfully keeping a little distance from her by sitting at the corner of the bed.

“It’s about Karasu-san, I couldn’t sleep because it’s bothering me.”

Ahh, I nodded. I didn’t say anything, not knowing how to respond immediately.

“Say, Nagi-kun. Didn’t Karasu-san die – because she threw away her name?”

“…Eh?”

“I realized it when you told me about the Scholomance university of magic. I knew the importance of names—and how dangerous it was to throw one’s name away—and yet…. I never pointed it out to Karasu-san.”

“Wa, wait a minute.”

I denied it as best I could.

“Karasu-san abandoned her name to get away from something, right? And rather than throwing it away, she took the new name of ‘Karasu’, and moreover, she seemed to like it a lot, didn't she? It’s not your fault, Krishna-san.”

It seemed like it still weighed on Krishna-san. She continued to blame herself, not that it was her fault, but that she could have done more. And I finally understood that this was the impetus for trying to do something on this occasion—here in this mansion.

“Nagi-kun, I relied on Karasu-san you see.”

“……….”

“I think I relied on her too much. I was only in charge of updating articles on Ikaigabuchi. Even if a lot of things happened, I thought it was all fine as long as Karasu-san laughed, and even when I stepped into really dangerous territory, a part of me would feel relieved when I saw her. I would be relieved thinking that this person had stepped into the world beyond far longer than I had, and despite that, she was smiling so joyfully like this, so I should still be okay too---”

“…Krishna-san.”

“Despite that….to die so suddenly like that…. It really was dangerous after all, that’s what it means, right? No, I’m not grieving over the fact that Karasu-san died – I'm afraid that I might be swallowed by the abyss next. That is---that is, just the worst, isn’t it?”

--That’s not it.

I wanted to say that that’s not it, but, I lacked the words to say what I wanted, and on top of that, I was lacking in knowledge and couldn’t find the right words to tell Krishna-san right now. Despite that, I clearly thought that that wasn’t it--- that’s it, I’ll use that. The words that helped me from the invisible someone in the ‘Overlapping house’.

『You are not broken.』

『Because – you can still ‘fear’.』

…That’s right, that was exactly it. Feeling fear was a normal human trait, and that’s how humans can distance themselves from danger—and the really dangerous individuals have had their ‘fear’ extinguished altogether and….

…Wait.

Thereupon, I recalled.

“…That’s right. There’s something I absolutely have to ask you, Kri--”

However, it happened at that moment.

From somewhere in the mansion, I heard the scream of a man.

In the darkness, Krishna-san too looked back.

“….Did you hear that?”

Krishna-san asked me, and I vaguely nodded. After that, we both held our breath. We strained our ears, but didn’t hear anything again.

“….Let’s go--- and check.”

Krishna-san withdrew the weak expression she had just been making. In its stead was the charismatic manager who formerly administered one of Japan’s largest occult websites.

We slowly opened the door, and peered down the corridor. The corridor was illuminated by auxiliary lights modeled after lanterns; We could easily see at our feet. Krishna-san took the lead, and slowly made her way forward, and I followed. We arrived at the stairs, and when she peeked at the bottom of the stairs, Krishna-san put her fingers to her lips. I, too, tried to hold my breath as I peered down below.

There was the old man.

He was walking unsteadily, and had a gown sloppily worn over his sleepwear. For some reason, he held a candlestick with a candle in hand, which gave him the appearance of a ghost.

Eventually, after confirming that the old man had returned to his room, I asked Krishna-san.

“That voice just now…was it his?”

The bobbed haired former manager shook her head and said, “I don’t know”. After that, we slowly began to descend the stairs, step-by-step.

As I checked the non-slip surface of the stairs with my bare feet, I began to feel as if the scene I had just witnessed had been a dream. His hair was grizzled and disheveled, and his eyes were hollow. His pale complexion looked even paler, yet his arms alone, which resembled withered branches, felt strangely darkened—

“Um, didn’t he just go to the toilet?”

I spoke as if to shake off the detestable chill, when Krishna-san stopped halfway down the stairs for a moment and asked me in return,

“Why did he need a candle when the lights in the corridor were switched on? Moreover, if the voice just now belonged to the old man…. Then I’m concerned as to why none of the servants came out. Could it be that this is a routine occurrence?”

“….”

“But if that's the case —I feel like there’s something there which can unravel the old man’s mystery.”

When she arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Krishna-san silently crouched down on the floor. She seemed to be clawing her fingers on the dark red carpet.

“…What’s wrong?”

“Look, Nagi-kun. There’s a trail of wax that dripped down.”

“Ah…”

“If we were to follow it--”

Krishna-san then proceeded down the corridor in a crouched position. I took a gulp and followed her cute looking behind as it swung from side to side. There was indeed a trail of dripped wax that continued every meter or so. And it continued down the corridor, but—

“…Unh.”

Krishna-san suddenly stopped, and my face almost came into contact with her behind.

“What happened?”

“It’s a dead end.”

“…Eh?”

I looked up and sure enough, at the end of the corridor was a wall. In front of the wall, there was only an ornamental plant, a low table, and an expensive-looking vase of flowers on it.

“Does the wax continue here? Did you make a mistake on the way?”

Krishna-san went back a few meters, and traced after the dripped wax once more before returning,

“No, without a doubt it’s leading this…”

As she declared that, she slowly raised her head. She then continued to gaze motionlessly at a part of the wall.

“…Nagi-kun?”

She suddenly lowered her voice even further and pointed somewhere.

“Isn’t this, a door…?”

“…………”

I, too, drew close and touched the wall with my fingertips.

--Aah, that’s right. It had been painted the same color as the wall, but the material was different.

“But, how is it opened…?”

I looked around as if to soothe my heart which had begun to throb violently once more.

And that’s when I noticed it. There was a spot under the wall that was slightly stained. A point that looked as if it had been touched by hand countless times. I managed to press it somehow, when—

I heard a clicking sound from somewhere, and one part of the wall simply flipped the other way.

However—beyond it was merely darkness. No—there was a path that continued endlessly, only a few meters wide.

“………”

“………”

--*Gulp* My throat sounded. I couldn’t help but feel a terrible premonition. I thought that this path was a truly unpleasant path. If you were to ask me why that was, I couldn’t answer well, but—there was a dampness, and a rotten smell that assailed my nostrils. I was hesitant to proceed further from here.

“—Nagi-kun.”

At that moment, Krishna-san’s nervous voice reached my ears; I turned around and was startled.

There was a human there with an expression of shock who had seen something impossible. Even though it was such a familiar face, it had an expression so drained of blood that I had never seen before – my face.

That’s right, the other side of the wall door that had flipped open was covered… by a polished mirror.

“A m…mirror? In this mansion? And…why is it on the backside of the wall door?”

“I don’t know… but there’s something strange.”

“W-w-what’s that?”

“There is no light whatsoever in this corridor.”

“…Huh?”

“In short, it means that when this door is closed, it’s impossible to use this mirror.”

With a shiver, something cold crawled down my back.

“Then, why is this mirror set up here? In the first place, where does this path lead--”

Then, it happened as Krishna-san was muttering to herself.

From somewhere, a rustling sound rang out, as if something was being dragged.

With a start, Krishna-san and I looked at the end of the dark corridor. We strained our eyes beyond the darkness.

…Huh…did something, move….?

In the darkness, something even darker moved—like it was drawing closer to us.

The light in the corridor through the doorway was not enough to illuminate the far end of the passage.

However— I could vaguely make out the outline of the thing that moved.

The moment I realized that it was like that of a person—

“K-Krishna-san…!”

I recoiled backwards as if collapsing, and grabbed the edge of Krishna-san’s pajamas.

“Nagi-kun….W, we can’t stay here!”

Her voice was the signal to prompt us both to turn around and run away, when—

We bumped into something, the unexpected impact startled us, and we fell down on the spot. We raised our faces to check what was blocking our path—I let out an “Eek” involuntarily, and Krishna-san had her mouth agape on the spot without a word.

There was the pale face of this mansion’s proprietor.

His complexion was like a corpse, and he wore a smile on his wrinkled face.

“Get away as fast as you can.”

The old man spoke in a frolicking tone.

“Before that thing gets you.”

◯

“L-le-le-let’s…. go back already!”

The next day, after sunrise, I visited Krishna-san’s room and told her that.

“That proprietor is strange. And there’s also definitely something strange about this mansion.”

“I know already.”

Krishna-san was writing something indifferently on a table next to the window. Without even glancing in my direction, and without resting her hand, she ignored my desperate pleas.

Last night, after what happened, we returned to our separate rooms and went to bed, but in the end, I couldn’t sleep a wink. Just what was that path hidden in the wall? Why was there a mirror on the back of the wall door to the entrance of that path? And--- what was that shadow beyond the path that seemed to be drawing close?

Now as I recalled it once more, a cold shiver rose up from beneath my feet.

Wasn’t that a person? It felt as if it was hectically shaking its head from side to side, looking for something. And it was like that arm wasn't there, like it had fallen off…

No. No, that was because I heard that proprietor’s old story. I had known that information beforehand, so I mistook something like that—that’s right, in short was a ‘schema’. The thing where stains on the wall look like a person’s face.

As I was absorbed in driving away my fears,

“You need to get back to Musashino right away.”

Krishna-san told me with her back towards me.

“….Eh. What are you going to do, Krishna-san?”

“I’m, going to stay here for a little while longer.”

“Y…you’d better give up. Then, you should at least call those ghost specialists. You know, the people in charge of Ikaigabuchi investigations you always call for….”

“I can’t. They all have their own individual fields of expertise. I don’t know who to call unless we uncover the root of the misfortune that binds this mansion. At the very least, I must determine that root.”

Thereafter, Krishna-san stopped her writing hand, and muttered quietly, “Moreover, if I were to return now.”

“If you were to return?”

“I won’t make it up to Karasu-san.”

“Karasu-san has nothing to do with it, right? In the first place, would Karasu-san be happy if you stayed in a place like this?”

“Just a little bit more… I have a feeling something will pop up.”

Krishna-san turned back and handed to me what appeared to be a sealed letter.

“When you get back to Musashino, give this to Sako-san.”

“…To Sako?”

Krishna-san nodded, and her eyes shone with a glint suggesting that she wanted to say something—when I suddenly understood.

“Could it be that this is about my memories?”

“........”

“I’ve really forgotten someone, haven’t I? Did you and Sako do something to me? Why?”

However, Krishna-san kept silent, biting her lips.

We were getting nowhere, so I put my hand on her small shoulder.

“At any rate let’s go back together. Or maybe it would be better to call that bastard Sako.”

“I can’t do that.”

Krishna-san refused as if to brush off my hand.

“I’m always relying on other people. Even though I have no power to deal with ghosts, I thought I would do something outrageous like promote the segregation of ghosts and people, not knowing my place. And who knows how many people -- ended up dead because of me.”

“Krishna-san, that wasn’t your fau…”

“Is that really the case? Say, Nagi-kun. Can you say that with absolute certainty?”

My hand stopped at that desperate scream—at those tears that flowed from her large eyes.

“I can’t forgive myself…if I can’t at least fix this problem properly by myself.”

◯

“—Now then. Have you figured out the identity of the thing in the mirror?”

Beyond the deliciously steaming breakfast, the old man smiled.

“…No, not yet.”

Krishna-san hung her head down,

“It’s fine, we have an abundance of time. Please make yourselves comfortable.”

The old man kindly declared with a hoarse voice.

Outside the window, a slight drizzle had begun before I realized. Illuminated by the faint sunshine, the table was lined with grilled river fish, pickled vegetables, bamboo miso soup, and freshly cooked rice.

And in the end--- I ended up receiving that food together with Krishna-san and the old man.

As I listened to the birds chirping, I thought the food was delicious, while at the same time feeling that I was pathetic.

“It’s good to have someone to talk to.”

The old man spoke to Krishna-san after partaking in a small mouthful of food.

“You are still young, but we have always had smooth communication. There is progress there. Let us have a meaningful, quality debate, unencumbered by ethical excesses.”

“…Last night.”

“Hm?”

“Is it alright if I ask about the path at the end of the corridor?”

In response, the old man, whose face which was once handsome in the past, creased its wrinkles—and broadly grinned.

“Please forget about it.”

“………”

“It is something that is not supposed to exist. Our nature as human beings to make things exist that are not supposed to exist - isn't that the true nature of a ghost?”

“In all likelihood, you are correct.”

Krishna-san spoke.

“However, the thing we saw last night was real.”

“And what exactly… did you see?”

“….Eh?”

“I did not see anything—and yet you included me in the ‘we’ you spoke of?”

“No, I definitely-- in the end of that corridor—Hey, Nagi-kun, you saw it as well, right?”

She suddenly swung my way, and in a panic, I gulped down the grains of rice in my mouth.

“Ermmm, right, it was like… I saw something.”

“Right? There must have been something - or someone - at the end of the corridor.”

Krishna-san insisted stubbornly, but as for me, it was pathetic that I didn’t truly trust my own perceptions. Even though I was an occult enthusiast, I was even more of a wimp, and I thought that the possibility was high that it was a schema rather than a person, something I always thought when I cooled off. Looking at it now that it’s morning, I even ended up thinking that it must have all been my imagination.

“That was -- yes, I think it was a woman with long hair.”

…………….Eh?

Krishna-san muttered that as she tried unusually hard to compose herself…. No, but what I saw was more like a man, something that had no arm and was hectically shaking its head from side to side.

In response—the old man cackled in a creepy manner.

“That’s how human perception is, Kurimoto-kun. Things like memories can manufacture several things later on. As long as humans are subjective living things, all memories without exception, receive slight revision. And, the more people with power speak of that, the more their subjective, vague and uncertain memories are recorded as authentic history. They say that the history is written by the victors – but it sure is scary, isn’t it, this world?”

Those were—

The type of words Krishna-san would usually point out before anything else, I thought.

Krishna-san would always question herself first. She would question all the ghost stories of this world, and she would go to the limits to eliminate even the slightest possibility of misinformation being mixed in. She strongly believed that fear came from ignorance.

Right now, Krishna-san was biting her lips. It was probably the regret of having ended up uttering what she saw herself (or what she felt she saw).

…Ah, come to think of it.

She said something about ‘racial conflict’ in the taxi on the way here. She then moved to ‘A history of human conflict’, and ‘Terrible things having quietly started somewhere’. You often see this type of thinking on the internet where current events are interpreted as grand evil signs. What are commonly called ‘conspiracy theories’. Krishna-san knew better than anyone else about how dangerous it was to start believing in conspiracy theories, but she still ended up uttering them— she must be feeling a sense of danger about herself. Was….that the real reason she closed Ikaigabuchi?

I thought that far, when I finally realized.

If the one-armed man I saw (or I felt I saw) was the ‘deceased friend’ imagined from the story of the old man named Mamiya---then the long haired woman Krishna-san saw…could it be?

Karasu-san?

Feeling responsibility for the death of Karasu-san, could Krishna-san’s heart be—

Much, much thinner than I thought, on the verge of being worn out?

◯

--Krishna-san, was already in danger.

After I finished eating breakfast, I borrowed an umbrella and went outside to take a walk by myself in the garden, where I took out my phone.

I had not brought my charger along, so I couldn't rely on the remaining battery anymore. I thought it would indeed be best to call Sako before it went dead. It was infuriating that I had to rely on him, but the situation was so urgent that I couldn't afford to take my time. In the end, I called Sako’s number after looking him up in my contacts list.

The ringing tone rang from the other end of the line.

It continued to ring.

However, even after thirty or so rings, no one picked up. It didn’t even go to voicemail.

“…That bastard, he really is useless when it comes to the crux of things.”

I clicked my tongue as I cut the call.

As I listened to the raindrops bouncing on my umbrella, I glared at the ground as I thought to myself.

I didn’t think it would be useful for me if I stayed here. But on the other hand, I was worried about leaving Krishna-san here and going back to Musashino alone. I couldn’t help but feel a terrible premonition. I would try contacting Sako again after a while--- no, if my battery died before I could contact him, then—As I started thinking such things over and over again, a stinging pain struck my right elbow after a long time.

I pulled up my sleeves and checked the scar. As usual, the stitch marks were painful to look at. The discolored wound had considerably blended in color with the surrounding flesh, but it looked like a bruise that would stay with me for the rest of my life.

As I massaged it, I somehow felt as if Karasu-san were angry at me.

“…What am I doing, really?”

I muttered to myself, when I suddenly realized.

I hurriedly turned the phone on and looked at my call history.

--Ah, I knew it.

There were many names in the call history I was familiar with, but among them was a name I had no recollection of.

It was the peculiar name, ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’. Moreover, there were a considerable number of incoming and outgoing calls displayed in the call history. The calls were terribly short each time, but to have exchanged calls so many times with this person—I had no memories of that.

….Who…are you….?

I looked at the contact information once more. All that was there was the name, ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’, with no address, the fact that they might be an associate from work, or that they may be someone related to Ikaigabuchi, there was no memo like that at all.

However, as I gazed at the name, a strange feeling of nostalgia filled my heart. When engulfed with an incomprehensible fear, there was no one more reliable than this person…. No, on the contrary, did they actually amplify the fear? I didn’t know which one it was, but at any rate, it was a name that gave me a hunch that it would give me a breakthrough when I didn’t know what to do.

“………”

After hesitating for several seconds – I looked at their phone number, and pressed the call button.

As I gulped, I heard the ringback tone several times.

Eventually, the call connected.

<…………………………….>

“…Ah, hello.”

For the time being, I muttered that, but afterwards, I didn’t know what to say.

Someone stayed silent on the other end of the line.

“…Ah, umm…. Sorry for calling you out of the blue. I’m the one who called, but I don’t know you. No, I probably don’t remember. That is, ah, I’m Nagito Yamada. I had an accident a little while ago. I think it’s because of that — my memory is scattered in places. That’s why I called this number from the call history of my phone. I have called you many times before. That’s why, I thought we might have been on close terms, but…sorry, I don’t remember you.”

<……………………………..>

“Sorry for this weird phone call, but I’m in a situation right now that’s even weirder. I need your help. Just a little--- just a little is fine, I want you to hear this story like this.”

At that moment, I heard a warning vibrate from my phone, *Beep* *Beep* *Beep*.

“Aw shit. My battery is low, so I’ll explain the situation from my side.”

I told everything that happened so far to someone I didn’t even remember.

That I was in the heart of Okutama, in the secondary residence of a rich man named Ryouichi Mamiya. The story about him having ventured into a forbidden cave ignoring three warnings and that a strange riddle had appeared here in a mansion where that old man lived. That I had seen a creepy path late at night. The fact that even though the house had no mirrors, that there was a mirror there. And above all, the strange state that Krishna-san was in. I don’t know what sequence of events I explained it all in, but I was incoherent without a doubt. I didn’t know if the person on the other end of the line understood me, but at any rate, I was in a hurry and desperately tried to explain everything that came to my head to the person on the other end of the line.

“….I mean, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, and it’ll be dangerous if things keep going on like this.”

<………………………………>

Despite that, the so-called ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’ remained silent.

It occurred to me that they might have been upset that I did not remember them.

“…I’m sorry for not remembering you.”

I spoke.

“It really is, a nonsensical phone call, isn’t it….but, I’m--”

When the phone went dead.

I looked to see that it had completely drained.

“….Ahh.”

“What’s wrong?”

I was suddenly called out to, and turned around to see Krishna-san standing there.

She had also borrowed an umbrella, and came out to the pouring garden, with a slight smile on her face. The color of her face seemed to have recovered a little since breakfast.

“I’m… still staying here.”

I answered and looked away from Krishna-san, who looked like she wanted to say something, and put my phone away.

◯

Thunder roared.

The rain had gotten heavier since last night, and had begun to violently thrash the ground.

I pushed past Krishna-san’s opposition, and in the end, ended up staying for the third consecutive night in that strange mansion.

“This house is basically quite cozy…”

I muttered to myself as I gazed out at the falling rain through the window of the guest room.

The library was lined with countless interesting books and had a sound facility that was somewhat old but seemed to have good sound. The mansion was surrounded by a fresh forest of maple trees and sawtooth oaks, with benches set up here and there. All the rooms had air conditioning, but it was neither hot nor cold in this mansion, which was surrounded by trees in early spring. It was the perfect place to stop and think at one’s leisure.

Even today, I woke up this morning to be served with a warm breakfast prepared by the servants, ate and engaged in some pleasant conversations and listened to the old man’s old stories, and ended up getting served lunch before I’d realized it. I thought I had to take Krishna-san back with me today, but when the old man and Krishna-san began some deep conversation, I lost my place and came up to the room prepared for me on the second floor to rethink my strategy, but before I realized, all I was doing was gazing out at the falling rain.

It was almost two o'clock in the afternoon.

If I were to go down now, I’d be served afternoon tea and cakes, then I’d be pushed along into dinner, and then I’d submerge myself in the spacious and comfortable bath and the day would be over. I’d be tempted to lie down on the soft bed and go straight into another overnight course. And I’d be wearing the same underpants for four days, a terrible sight to behold.

A comfort that’s like lukewarm water.

That was the root of my fear of this mansion.

In this mansion where time seems to have stopped, where only silence and thoughts remained, it became impossible to have an overhead view of where you were. The university lectures and part-time job that used to keep me busy day after day became unimportant, and I even ended up thinking that my missing memories were something trivial and not worth worrying about.

It was a dreadful feeling as if I was slowly dissolving. It was a lukewarm fear that If I didn’t make a determined decision to leave in some way, that I would become imprisoned in this mansion forever.

For example, I realized it when I saw Krishna-san in the garden this morning.

How should I say it, it felt as if color continued to disappear from Krishna-san. The thing she originally had, the vitality of a Bodhisattva that overflowed from her much more than a normal human, continued to go down, is how I might explain it. At any rate, everything was fleeting, and there was a fear there that she would become transparent and end up disappearing at this rate.

『…K, Krishna-san.』

At that time, I thought it was without a doubt dangerous and called out to her. But I didn't know what to say or do from there. With her bobbed hair and charming baby face in front of me, my body didn’t move, and no words came out. I just said, “Nothing”, and looked away with no plan of a breakthrough, and all I could say was. 『I’m still staying here.』

However, I was sure that nothing would change for the better if I just kept reminiscing and looking out of the window. So, I finally took action — I stood up from the chair by the window, and went downstairs.

In the living room with a hearth on the first floor, both Krishna-san and the proprietor were sitting opposite to each other on the sofa, and at times both were conversing with a smile on their faces.

“I believe that’s the first time I’ve heard of such an opinion regarding the true identity of Oshira-sama.”

“No, it's an unfounded fancy that just popped into my head.”

“No, no, I don't think this is an opinion that comes up unless you do a lot of fieldwork.”

Thereupon, I joined in.

“What is Oshira-sama?”

In response, Krishna-san blatantly scowled.

“Nagi-kun, you haven’t even read Tōno Monogatari yet?”

“…Ah, err, it’s written in a classic style that’s difficult to read, so.”

“There are modern translations as well now. I’m always telling you that you shouldn’t just read ghost stories on the internet.”

“S-sorry.”

“Well, let’s leave him be.”

With the proprietor’s words, the conversation between the two moved on to an incomprehensible direction once more. They talked about stuff like the earth’s axis, and Longmai. I could sit down on the sofa next to Krishna-san, but I couldn't get into the conversation at all.

At that moment, a bright light shone outside the window.

After a moment’s delay, the terrifying sound of thunder reverberated in its stead.

“….Damn, that was close!”

I unconsciously shouted out loud, but the proprietor and Krishna-san continued their conversation as if they had gotten used to it. At that moment, lightning flashed again, illuminating the old man's profile. His wrinkled face, which was supposed to have been handsome in his youth, was dyed in a golden color for an instant--- and I shuddered.

In a panic, I rubbed my eyes.

Just now, in an instant, I felt like I saw a completely different face appear in the light—but, was it because of the light?

The proprietor was smiling as usual. But it felt as if the number of wrinkles were increasing day by day. Despite that, it felt as if rather than growing old, he continued to swell with vigor. It might have been because he gained a conversational partner in Krishna-san with whom he could talk to on an equal intellectual level (according to the proprietor). It might have been because his brain was being rapidly stimulated.

However, that was of course not a happy thing for me, it was something that made me feel a strange disgust. I couldn’t help but feel a slimy sense of corrosion, as if something precious to me were being devoured by an old, ravenous beast.

“Now then, have you figured out the answer yet, Kurimoto-kun?”

After a break in the conversation, the old man asked Krishna-san as he sipped his black tea.

The answer— It was about the incident he mentioned. The question:『What is the identity of the thing inside the mirror?』. As I looked at Krishna-san’s downcast profile from the side, I too desperately tried to think. In the past, this old man abandoned his best friend in the depths of a cave. Or he thought he had, and continued to feel guilty about it to this day. Krishna-san was of the same opinion up to that point. Which meant that in short, that thing he saw was his ‘best friend’ who supposedly died. But for me, there was another possibility that I couldn’t get rid of.

That was—

The ‘something’ that had been in the depths of the cave from the very beginning.

‘Something’ that had been called a ‘mountain god’ since ancient times, that issued three warnings to the young man and his best friend. Had it not possessed this old man? Wasn’t that the cause of this inhuman presence I felt from this old man?

I looked at Krishna-san, wondering how she would respond---

“…I’m sorry, I don’t know.”

The bobbed haired former occult site manager hung her head in regret.

“It’s nothing to be concerned about.”

And the old man nodded happily.

“We have all the time in the world.”

….Ah, dammit, what was it?

An intense feeling of disgust swelled up inside me, and I stood up from the sofa. With a feeling of frustration as if I had my foot caught in a bottomless marshland, and a mixture of anger at myself for being unable to help Krishna-san as my crutch, I got up and spoke.

“I got it.”

“Oh?”

The old man looked my way with zero sense of expectation.

“Please tell me.”

“You are… the ‘mountain god’.”

Lightning struck outside the window once more, and for an instant the lights in the room went out. Perhaps that’s why I ended up being convinced that my half-baked answer was correct, *Cough*, the old man’s laughter rang out together with the lights turning back on, making me feel somewhat embarrassed.

“I am honored to be thought of as a mountain god.”

“Y, you went to a forbidden cave with your best friend. You heard some kind of voice there. But, you lost your memories from there, and when you came to, your best friend didn’t return. In short--”

“Ah, I see. So you want to say that I’ve been possessed by a mountain god. Quite amusing.”

It felt as if something else inside the old man’s wrinkles sneered.

“Let’s talk by stepping down to your level. Then what do you think the mountain god is?”

“Eh….what do I think….ummm… god is god, right?”

“In this country, those who are considered as gods are deceased noblemen, something that percolated from the other world, or nature itself, which one of those I wonder?”

“H, how the hell am I supposed to know something like that?”

“Why was the cave forbidden to enter in the first place?”

“………….”

“Is God not the general term for the supernatural, that which is beyond human comprehension? Why do humans deem God as necessary? That is to escape from fear. When struck with a condition that far surpasses the capacity of human understanding, humans speak of God. Fear that flows from the depths of humans is called God. In short fear itself is the true form of God, so how can I be the god of the mountain since I felt fear of the other side of the mirror?”

“…….”

“Ahh, how exhausting.”

The old man sat deep back in his chair, and spoke in an exhausted tone of voice.

“I said it before. A world that caters to fools leads to a slow death. Listen, if you’ve learned your lesson, then don't even think about interfering in the conversation between Kurimoto-kun and myself. Fools should at least realize that they are being spoken to like fools.”

………Ungh.

I was humiliated, but I had no reply. Krishna-san too had her head downcast, and I too pathetically continued to look down on the ground, when--

“Master.”

The maid called out.

“Another guest has arrived, is it alright if I allow them in?”

However, before that voice could even finish,

“…Ah, please…wait, please wait in that room.”

I heard that voice and turned around, to see the maid in a panic restraining someone.

However, eventually, the maid staggered as if pushed aside; Something entered the room.

In the space absent of anyone—that voice echoed, like a ringing bell.

(Which one is the fool, I wonder?)

That voice--- that frigid voice in the darkness that echoed like a bell from the other world, reached my ears.

(If you were to define fools as those who don’t realize they are fools, then there are those who don’t even realize that it applies to them.)

However, that figure was nowhere to be seen.

All I could feel was long black hair swirling in a spiral.

And, the terrifying presence in that voice alone—was what I felt in that ‘Overlapping house’.

“…T…that voice… you are…”

My mutter overlapped with Krishna-san’s voice at the same time.

“Yo…Yoishi…? Why are you here….?”

--Yoishi…? My mouth was agape, as I looked in the direction the voice came from, then at the old man, and finally at Krishna-san.

Krishna-san had her head face down somewhat apologetically—

Could it be?

Could it be that the owner of that voice was ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’?

“Oh, what a cute young lady.”

The old man let out a merry voice.

“Welcome, to my mansion.”

In response, the young girl that was still only a voice to me whispered.

(Fools destroy this world--- I strongly agree with that theory. However, you don't know what a true fool is.)

“Interesting, please do explain.”

(Often in this world, the wise must go along and converse with fools. That is correct. The wise arrive at the truth of this world before the fools, and despair of their own inadequacies more often than the fool —that too is correct. However, you don’t realize that as long as humans are creatures who live by emotion, the aggregate amount of despair is the same.)

“…Oh?”

(Indeed, there might be fewer fools who may be aware of their stupidity in comparison to the wise. But, as long as the aggregate amount of emotion is the same, the wise experience the self-hate ten different times whereas the fool only experiences ten times all at once. When they realize and understand it, the despair they felt would be ten times greater. And, that which the exceedingly sensitive fool experiences is a hundred times more worthy than the insensitive wise man —That is this person. You could not withstand even a small portion of the pain this person has experienced thus far. As long as there are circumstances worth sympathizing in, this person is an extraordinary fool who will walk together with them be they the living or the dead—No matter how much someone tries to stop him, he still plunges into the abyss in tears, a person who endured it all.)

For some reason, the back of my nose prickled.

(The wise living by getting along with fools? You can talk from above and feel good about it all you want, but that is an exceedingly laughable thing. The fool who cannot see ahead is the first to realize what lies at their feet. They are diligently moving the pebbles at their feet, one by one, day by day, which the wise do not care about. That’s why, the self-proclaimed wisemen are able to look ahead without falling down.)

“How interesting.”

The old man cried out in excitement, and at the same time, another violent thunderbolt struck yet again.

And I noticed that the feet of the young girl, who was only a voice, were dripping wet. It seemed the so-called ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’ had come soaking wet in the rain, in response to my call for help.

“Krishna-san.”

I asked.

“…This girl with only a voice--- the girl everyone can see, why am I the only one who can’t see her?”

“……That’s.”

“But she’s Yoishi, isn’t she?”

“Nagi-kun…. You were shaken up pretty badly back then. You were lashing out, wailing and afraid. That’s why--”

“….Right. I ended up calling her a monster.”

“…………”

“I called her a monster, I feared her, and ended up crying and screaming.”

“…That’s right.”

“I still don’t know why that was. But, even if she was a monster---she answered my call, and came to help in the rain here in the mountains. I’ve never seen such a monster with a strong sense of duty.”

Thereupon, the voice echoed once more.

(The thing that gazes at you from inside the mirror--- If you really want to know its true identity, I’ll tell you.)

“Ho, ho.”

The old man sat back down happily.

“By all means, please, young lady.”

In response, I suddenly heard a *Shing*.

It seemed that ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’ had flicked a glass on the table with her fingers.

(Venetian glass that’s more than five-hundred years old—moreover, this is not ‘Facon de Venise’, but rather, an original from the island of Murano.)

“Oh, so you know of Murano originals.”

(Originally, the exact origins of Venetian glass are shrouded in mystery. The method was said to have been established in the seventh or eighth century, and was considered top secret by the Republic of Venice at the time, with all craftsmen isolated on Murano Island.)

A nice sounding *shing* rang out once more.

The old man closed his eyes as if entranced by that tune. I, too, was caught up in it, and closed my eyes trying to imagine it as well.

(The small Murano Island is filled with workshops. As a result of the friendly competition between craftsmen called maestros, hard glass adorned with ornaments continues to be refined at a higher, more vivid quality.)

--*Shing* The sound of glass. Perhaps because I had closed my eyes, the sound was more vivid than before. And, when I heard it again with the added explanation, I felt that the vivid sound had a different experience.

(The almost legendary fame these craftsmen earned gave them unparalleled respect. Their fame reached its peak in the fifteenth century, and they were at last commissioned to create the ‘Hall of Mirrors’ in the Palace of Versailles.)

…Hall of mirrors?

--*Shing* The sound reverberated.

(The Palace of Versailles was said to be a castle of Louis XIV, a palace within a palace. It is a vast place installed with mirrors, enough for the Hall of mirrors to be referred to as the ‘Corridor of Mirrors’, and in the ceiling is a famous decorative ceiling painting by the famous Charles Le Brun. In the painting, which is said to be a declaration of the king's own rule and a departure from the aristocracy, Louis XIV, the Sun King, holds a rudder in his right hand, blessed by angels and surrounded by various gods. The god of ‘wisdom’ Minerva, Mars the god of ‘war’, and the personification of ‘time’, the god of agriculture Saturn—all of them extoll Louis XIV.)

“…Umhmm.”

Again, a *shing*, the sound of glass rang out once more, and the old man comfortably chuckled in this throat.

At that moment, Krushna-san’s silent murmur reached my ears.

“…..Hypnotherapy, is it?”

…Hypno, therapy?

I thought I heard it somewhere before… As the word ‘therapy’ suggested, the rhythm of ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’s’ words was very relaxing. I was somehow convinced that the word therapy did apply, and I continued to keep my eyes shut as I listened in ecstasy—however, that was as far as it went for being enraptured.

(In the days of glory, a picture of glory—however, why is it I wonder?)

Suddenly, the tone of Yoishi’s voice dropped.

(There is one strange god in the painting. One god alone is illustrated with his back facing the king.)

“The god Pluto— Hades according to Greek mythology.”

The old man answered with eyes still closed.

(That’s exactly it. The sinister Pluto who holds dominion over death—That’s why he has his back towards you who are blessed.)

“…Hmm…”

(You are now more blessed than all of creation. You have attained the self you were meant to achieve.)

--*Shing* The clear sound rings perfectly clear as if it covered the entire world.

(The light floods in —the power slowly leaves your body---it falls deeper and deeper into the sky.)

--*Shiiiiiiiiiing*, the sound reverberates all around me.

(That’s right, before you know it, you are in a meadow.)

Together with her words—

My surroundings had somehow turned into a field thick with young fresh grass.

It was vast. A meadow that spread as far as I could see, as a gentle breeze blew past me.

(You proceed through the meadow. In the middle of the meadow, there is a large tree. An ancient, thick tree trunk that has experienced many years.)

(You put your hand on that trunk. You look at that hand. You realize who you are--)

(Are you a man, or a woman?)

“……A, a man.”

The old man's croaky voice responded.

(A man around what age?)

“….Twenty seven, thereabout.”

(You who are twenty-seven-years-old discover a large hole in the tree trunk. It’s a very large hole….what is inside?)

“…..I don’t know…it’s pitch black….”

(Then let’s slowly enter inside. It’s alright, because you have a light in your hand.)

“….Yes….”

(Try to illuminate your arm with the light. What do you recall?)

“…Arm…arm….I…wanted to bulk it… because it was slightly thinner as compared to his….It weighed on my mind that it was thin compared to my best friend…..”

(Where is that friend?)

“…..Where…next to me…he was always next to me….Aah…..”

(Please shine a light on your friend.)

“….He’s here….he’s laughing…. His face is handsome like an actor….The man who instilled an uncountable sense of inferiority in me…..And, the man who was always kind to me…. I thought I wanted to be like this man…..No…..that’s not it…..”

(What – is not it?)

“The person who’s there….is me….where did my friend go….?”

(……………….)

“This is….this is….a mirror isn’t it?! …..Eeek! My reflection….where did he go….?”

(No, that is not you.)

In the midst of the pitch-black darkness—the whispers of the young girl echoed.

“……What……?”

(That is because, you are not ‘Ryouichi Mamiya’. It is true that you are currently the chairman of the conglomerate ‘Mamiya Motors’ which boasts the largest market share of the Japanese market, but you are not the man who originally held the name of ‘Ryouichi Mamiya’.)

At that moment, something beyond the darkness that had its back turned moved sneakily.

With a forked shaku in hand, the indomitable brown colored back of Pluto, had turned around at some point.

And, at the same time, a sobbing scream that was enough to make you shudder rang out. That was, the voice of the old man.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…..I, I was……..No, I was…….that’s right, in the darkness--- I was told that one would be allowed to live. He said he would deliberately allow one of us to live. He said he would make me taste the sadness of having lost my friend until I died….It was no joke, I thought. It was no joke. I thought living my life being afraid of Mamiya’s shadow until my death was something I could never do. Even Fumiko, the one she really liked was Mamiya….I don’t think she would be swayed by me if Mamiya were to die…that’s why, I became Mamiya….because that was the best thing I could do.”

(No—that is how you justified it to yourself.)

‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’ coldly condemned him.

(You stole a man’s name, and as a result, stole everything from him.)

However—the old man wasn’t listening anymore.

“No….I am the real…. Ryouichi Mamiya!”

As he shouted that, I heard the sound of something crashing down and falling somewhere.

Thereupon at long last, I opened my eyes.

I desperately looked around at the blurry world, as if a long dream still lingered, and realized that I was in the living room of that mansion, and that there were broken pieces of the so-called Venetian glass at my feet.

“….Forgive me. Mamiya, stop….”

I heard the scream of the old man at the end of the corridor, and Krishna-san and the maid broke off into a run.

I, too, got up, and tried to leave the room together with them, but—

I heard a *Shing* from somewhere once more.

With a start, I looked at the fragments of the broken glass lying scattered on the floor.

Once more, a clear, *Shing* reverberated.

It was in midair. Someone’s white hand was on that glass, and the glass sounded in a high-pitched tone once more— and I understood that ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’ was still there.

Then I remembered. That’s right, I had read it once before on ‘Ikaigabuchi’. About hypnotherapy being called ‘Regression Hypnotherapy’.

You are made to hear a certain sound continuously. Words, the sound of glass, anything is fine. At any rate, under a certain rhythm, you are led to an altered state of consciousness. The manifestation of one’s inner child. The adult self going to meet the child self, where unfulfilled emotions or complaints are addressed. To listen to ‘The grievances you really wanted to vent’. And, what leads to that realization is—

A higher self. A self that is full of peace, faith, compassion and wisdom—Ah, in short, it was the decorative ceiling painting.

At that moment—the world was enveloped with an overwhelming light, and when I came to, I was in front of the university’s western club building. The building was surrounded by Zelkova trees, and I was riding in front of it on my worn-out mama bike. For a brief period, I was at my happiest here. At any rate, I had to meet her, as I pedaled my bike, my heart beat throbbed, and I was out of breath. The scenery flew past behind me, and eventually, I arrived at the library I had aimed for. I hurriedly locked my bike and parked it, and I saw her come out of the library. “Yoishi!”, I yelled. But, at the same time, I spotted a familiar shadow. It was Akane Nanamori. And I saw a long black shadow at her back---Is how I felt. After that….after that, ahh, I don’t really remember. Before I’d realized, I had jumped onto the road, and in an instant, my vision was turned upside down, filled with the blue sky. I was thrown up into the sky.

After that---what happened?

In an instant, an intense *GONG* reverberated from the entire sky—

And suddenly, an unfamiliar family appeared. A family of four, all smiling happily. A father, a mother, two daughters, and a small shaggy dog. No, it was not an unfamiliar family. I was very close, right besides this family--- and existed by receiving a share of their happiness—And.

I found out something.

I found out that this family hid a secret you wouldn’t tell anyone.

『I couldn’t save them.』

Someone’s voice echoed in my head, a voice I didn’t know—

And then, I was thrown out into a world of darkness.

It was a graveyard. And, it was---that’s right. Last Christmas, I came here with her. It was almost midnight before Christmas, and here we were watching fireworks together. We were sitting on a bench, and I dearly hoped that I could see her smile, so I put my hands on her cheek—

However, there was no one there. Neither her long black hair, nor her beautiful face, transparent and white, was there by my side.

Or rather….there was, no one there.

I dizzily got up from the bench.

And I started walking in the dark cemetery, towards the row of countless gravestones.

Graves, Graves, Graves, Graves, Graves—the graves continued endlessly. Familiar names were inscribed on those graves. My mother’s name was there. My elder sister’s name was there. Friends from when I was a brat. My companions from my high school days. My acquaintances at university. Karasu-san’s name was there, as well as Sako’s. Krishna-san’s name was there as well---and my name was also there.

“What…is this place?”

A wind blew through the open hole in my chest.

A sad wind blew through me, as I looked alone at a world where everything had ended.

A world where everyone had once cried, lost their temper, and laughed together.

It was as if the world had ended, as if it were a world of darkness where everything from the air to the temperature, to the microbes, had all disappeared.

I alone wandered unsteadily in that cold, silent darkness, and then I realized.

Her name alone— was missing.

The grave with the name of ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’ alone was nowhere to be found.

---Are you, really…..called ‘Yoishi’?

At that moment, I…I finally reached the question I needed the answer to above all else.

‘Yoishi’—

One year ago, I found out about that ominous rumor,

And met her for the first time in a family restaurant late at night,

And, I began to wander around in the depths of countless paranormal phenomena, I ….that’s right, I started calling her ‘Yoishi’ before I realized….and ended up believing that ‘Yoishi’ itself was her name.

However, that wasn’t it—

Could it be that I, in fact, was not aware of her real name?

The next thing I knew—

I was in the living room of the mansion, standing stock still in a daze.

And before me, was a young girl all by herself.

She had long black hair, skin as white as porcelain, dressed in the Koumei school’s black blazer uniform.

There was a dark color in her large eyes, as she looked at me.

“…Yo….”

“…………”

“….Yo, Yoishi!”

What was her real name? Was it alright to call her by that name?

I still didn’t know the answer to that, but in the end, I shouted that out loud, and hugged her so tight her arms might have broken.

“……….Fuugh.”

Perhaps because she was surprised, Yoishi let out a strange voice like that of a mountain cat.

“Just for a bit. Call me a harasser or a pervert. Just let me stay like this, just for a little.”

I begged her, and Yoishi’s body, which stiffened for a moment, eventually relaxed little by little. I tenderly embraced that body once more. Thinking that it was thin and soft. She came all the way out here without an umbrella and was drenched in the rain, and some kind of strange scent prickled at my nose, but I couldn't help but feel nostalgic about all of that, so I held my cheeks against Yoishi’s wet black hair, and spoke in a snotty, gravelly voice.

“….I’m sorry…I’m sorry for having forgotten about you. I’m sorry I couldn’t….see you.”

“…………..”

“And, most of all—I’m sorry I called you a monster.”

“……………”

“You’re nothing at all like a monster. Definitely not.”

When I declared that—

“You can—see Yoishi…?”

I heard Krishna-san’s voice, and with a start, I raised my head.

It seemed she had returned to the room before I’d realized. There she was, flush red for some reason as she looked at me and Yoishi in an embrace. However, I didn’t care as I continued to embrace Yoishi and nodded.

“Krishna-san you---no, that bastard Sako made Yoishi invisible to me.”

“….That---couldn’t be helped. Back then, you were…”

…..Ah, I know already.

I remembered everything. Back then, in the hospital room, when I saw Yoishi, something about her scared me. I was helplessly afraid and delirious, I screamed, cried and lashed out. The doctors and nurses came one after the other and held me down---and I recalled the moment up until Sako touched my forehead. In all likelihood, that’s when that bastard Sako did something to me.

“I understand.”

Krishna-san looked at me with an expression distorted with worry, and I gently nodded.

“Hypnotherapy.”

“……….Ah.”

“I remembered thanks to that.”

After telling her this, I finally remembered what was happening in this mansion in the present.

“More importantly, Krishna-san, Mamiya san is--”

“Ah…….ahh, that’s right.”

Krishna-san immediately returned to a straight face, and spoke.

“I need you to come right away. And Yoishi as well.”

“What happened?”

In response, the former occult site manager gloomily hung her head down.

“He has passed away.”

◯

At the entrance to the path, the servants had all gathered, everyone was huddled close together, lost for words.

At the end of the path in the back of the corridor, Ryouichi Mamiya--- no, the old man whose name no one knew anymore, had breathed his last.

Together with Yoishi, I slipped past the servants and entered the path. It was the path where that strange guy had been that night. As I tried not to look at the creepy darkness in the back, I crouched down next to the corpse. And, when I looked at his face—I shuddered.

The face did not belong to the old man we had seen so much of over the past few days. It was not the handsome face of the man we had surmised from the picture of his youth, but that of an old man who was a complete stranger to me.

“….Th, this person is, that proprietor?”

I asked, and Krishna-san nodded in silence.

No, that was indeed the case. The gown he was wearing, the socks, and his gray hair, they all belonged to the owner of this mansion. But his face alone was different. It was not the face of the old man we had met and talked with up until now.

“…What does it mean?”

Krishna-san spoke in a daze.

“When someone dies, their face can change to some extent—but, I’ve never seen the skeletal structure change enough to alter the facial appearance entirely.”

“I wonder if that's so.”

Thereupon, Yoishi turned to look behind her.

“There’s a mirror installed at the back of the door at the entrance to this path. I believe because that old man had an interest in Venetian glass, it was probably elaborately made to pair with the mirror on the front.”

“Eh…….?”

Krishna-san asked in return, and I too cocked my head in puzzlement.

“What do you mean by the mirror on the front?”

“It’s that.”

Yoishi then moved towards the darkness at the end of the path.

There was where I saw the man with one arm, and where Krishna-san saw the woman with long hair.

“H….Hey.”

“It’s alright.”

Yoishi’s voice rang out beyond the darkness even as her figure had already become dim.

“As long as the entrance door is kept open, this will not become a spiritual path.”

Beyond the darkness, a *clink* sounded, and a penlight was turned on. Then it swung symmetrically in two. That’s right, as if to reflect off a mirror.

“…….I see.”

Krishna-san walked ahead, and I, too, followed.

The path came to a dead end around ten meters further ahead, and there was a mirror the full width of the passage.

“If you were to close that entrance, then this path becomes a ‘Corridor of Mirrors’. It becomes a perfect space of opposing mirrors, and it then becomes a perfect spiritual path.”

“Why did Mamiya—no, why did that old man make something like this? Wasn’t he afraid of mirrors?”

“In all likelihood, Ryouichi Mamiya switched places with that friend shortly after the war in the aforementioned cave. There were three warnings: those who continue further from here will 『have no guarantee of their ‘life’』『have no guarantee of their ‘friend’』『have no guarantee of their ‘name’』-- The life meant that one of them would lose their lives. Friend meant the death of their friendship. And the name referred to the fate of the man who must live for the rest of his life in the name of the friend he killed.”

“The proprietor of this mansion…really admired Ryouichi Mamiya.”

With her head cast down, Krishna-san spoke.

“He cared so much about him down to the thickness of his arms. ….Ah, so that's why. He cut off his friend’s arm because he was jealous.”

Yoishi nodded in agreement,

“However, to bear that darkness alone was far too heavy a burden to bear.”

I began to get a bad feeling from her somewhat joyful, peculiar tone of voice.

“This closed corridor, instead of being a space created by the conscience of the man who became Ryouichi Mamiya--”

“Instead of?”

I ended up asking unconsciously but regretted it the moment I saw that the depths of Yoishi’s large eyes were beginning to glow with a dark color.

With a chill, the overwhelming sense of helplessness I felt in that hospital room came to the fore once more.

“Aaah, wait, Yoishi, Let’s....”

Stop, I was about to say, when I suddenly made eye contact with Krishna-san. The former occult site manager who would always butt in between me and Yoishi and make a scene and panic and say something like, ‘You can’t, you can’t! Don’t get involved!’, was for some reason, looking at me with a confident look on her face.

--Huh?

My thoughts stopping was the end of my luck.

“That’s right— he built this mansion.”

“He happily had dinner with both of you.”

“He haughtily spoke of fools with you.”

Yoishi Mitsurugi was enthralled, her eyes enlivened, and she ended up mouthing the words in a whisper:

“What clung to the face of this mansion’s owner for a long time was the ghost of Ryouichi Mamiya.”

◯

In the end, it seemed that the direct bloodline of Ryouichi Mamiya had been cut off.

Later, a DNA test was conducted albeit far too late, and it was established that the man was indeed not Ryouichi Mamiya.

Should the vast wealth and fortune built up using the land and connections of ‘Ryouichi Mamiya’ by the man who was not ‘Ryouichi Mamiya’ be inherited by the family of the real ‘Ryouichi Mamiya’? Or should it be inherited by the descendants of the man who falsified his name as ‘Ryouichi Mamiya’? There seemed to be a big uproar in the Mamiya family over that even now—but I didn’t care about any of that. It was a matter of no consequence to us.

One more important thing happened that day, which I will now narrate.

Krishna-san, Yoishi and I all arrived in the same taxi back to Musashino, Tokyo, but when we got out of the taxi, I recalled something important.

After taking out the luggage, I asked Yoishi, “Give me your phone for a second.”

She made an unwilling expression, so I clarified, “I don’t have any battery left, it’s something important”, and borrowed her unappealing black phone. I then took out that business card from my pocket and dialed the number that was written on there. That was something I had been thinking about all the way in the taxi. It was the answer I had come up with by thinking to the point of madness: Would I really do that with no regrets?

As Krishna-san and Yoishi looked at me suspiciously—

I heard a woman’s voice on the other end of the line after the second ringback tone.

<Cabinet Information Research Office, how may I help you?>

“…..Huh?”

I reflexively compared the number displayed on screen to the number on the business card, thinking I had made a mistake. It was not a mistake.

“C, cabinet…..Information research office?”

<Yes.>

“N, Nagi-kun….. who are you calling…..?”

Krishna-san started panicking, but *shhhh*, I put my index finger to my lips, and asked.

“I’m Yamada. I’d like to speak with Mitsurugi-san.”

<…And your business is?>

“I’d like to tell him directly.”

<My apologies, but there is no one here by the name of Mitsurugi.>

‘If that is all, then’, as the other party was about to cut the line, I spoke.

“Wait a second. He's supposed to be there, isn't he? He gave me a card with this number on it. That guy who has a face like a Noh mask. He’s emotionless, expressionless, with his hair swept back, an incredibly creepy guy. I have something very important to talk to him about. Put me through!”

In response—

<…………….Noh mask…..Creepy…..>

It felt as if the woman on the other end of the line snickered a laugh.

<Please wait a moment.>

I exhaled once, and looked at Yoishi.

She had an anxious expression I had never seen up until now, so I nodded and said, “It’s alright”, and I naturally grabbed her hand. I tightly clasped her soft hand.

<Hello.>

Eventually, the voice of that Noh faced man I had met in front of the university that time came from the other end of the line.

“Ah, it’s me, Nagito Yamada.”

<….I know.>

Something inside me was dislodged in reaction to his usual expressionless, unsympathetic manner of speaking.

After taking another deep breath, I stated my business in one fell swoop.

“Your daughter is in a terrible place.”

<…………………..>

“She’s in the worst possible place imaginable—no, she’s stepped into a place that’s a level above the worst. Do you know that?”

<……………………….>

“No, I’m sure you know a lot, but I’m sure you don’t understand properly. Maybe I'm the only person in the world who fully understands it, so....”

<….I’m busy. Please get to the point.>

“Give Yoishi to me.”

<……………………….>

“Even If you refuse, I’ll still take her. I’ll put my life on the line to make her happy.”

At that moment, Yoishi’s hand in the palm of my hand suddenly shuddered.

I clasped her hand once more as if to gently envelop it.

The man on the other end of the line went silent for a while, before eventually grumbling indifferently.

<You’ll end up dead.>

“I don’t care.”

I answered instantly.

I really didn’t care if I died. I came this far after experiencing countless scary life-and-death situations. And I realized. That there were things in this world far more horrifying than death. That there were still horrifying things even after death. If that was so, then wasn’t it all the same? I say that, but it was the conclusion I had come to after walking this far through many deep and grotesque abysses of the world beyond. To lose oneself. To deceive oneself. If you live with a tiny but painful thorn in your side, it will slowly kill your heart. And you would have to face it once more somewhere along the way. But I came this far by running from that. Even though the root of the problem was right there, I ran because I was afraid. I came this far by running from the fusuma, running from ghosts, and running from the emotion called fear. However, right now, there was a problem right here by my side I needed to resolve. The hand in my hand, was actually shaking. Even though it’s unbearably scary, she killed the emotion known as fear, and she was shaking. Even though she was a really good person, even though she has a cute smile, she always has her back hunched over, living life away from the bright light. But that was exactly why she alone understood my disposition. Back then, she stood by my side in the burning dream mansion. And— now it was my turn. It was my turn to confront her and the root of the darkness inside her.

<--You’ve been...>

The man spoke.

<Possessed by my daughter, haven’t you?>

The man who kept calling her ‘it’, called her ‘daughter’ for the first time.

<…Fine, do as you wish.>

Saying that, the man cut the line.

In a daze, I looked at the phone display after he cut the line, ‘Call time: 2 minutes and 47 seconds’ displayed on the screen, when I heard a sob from somewhere.

“I’ve never—this kind of ridiculous situation---it’s the first time.”

I turned around to see Krishna-san’s shoulders were shaking, and her nose was bright red.

“W-Why are you crying?”

I asked her and at the same time, I realized I was still holding hands with Yoishi, and hurriedly let go.

“It’s fine--- just keep it that way.”

Krishna-san once again took my hand and the hand of Yoishi, and spoke after firmly joining the two together.

“You have my blessing.”

With a smile on her snotty, tear-stained face—

The former manager of ‘Ikaigabuchi’, whom I respected from the bottom of my heart, loudly declared high up to the sky like a priest.

“You two have my blessing. I’ll pray for your happiness.”

---

Translator's notes and references

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