Chapter 3

Summer break ended, and the students returned to campus. Although, as should probably be expected of college students, there were also those brave students who continued traveling abroad for the whole of September. All the first classes that took place after summer break were sparsely attended, and those who did show up were still looking fairly sluggish from vacation. Takatsuki’s class was no exception. As he looked around the half-empty lecture hall, the professor smiled lightly. “Ah, not everyone is back from their great summer adventure yet, I see… Well, it’s the same way every year. Since there aren’t many of you today, I’m not going to split this topic into two lectures. We’ll just wrap it up for today. Today’s theme, to put it plainly, is ‘kamikakushi’! Now, for the materials.” Naoya took the occasion to quickly scan the classroom as he passed the materials to the students behind him and spotted Ayane and Kotoko. They were sitting side by side, so it seemed like they were still friends. Once he had confirmed that the materials had made it all the way to the back of the room, Takatsuki continued talking. “Kamikakushi literally means ‘to be hidden by the gods,’ and it points to instances when, one day, out of the blue, someone or something is just gone. Spirited away. To put it another way, it’s when someone is lost or goes missing. In the past, people thought such things were the work of gods. ‘Someone who should definitely be here has vanished; that’s strange—surely the gods have hidden them away.’ That kind of feeling. In particular, children went missing frequently in the past. Kidnapping cases still happen a lot today, but it happened in greater numbers back then. And that was also thought to be the work of gods or monsters. For example, Figure 1 in the handout.” The diagram Takatsuki had mentioned was a picture that looked like the indecipherable doodle of a child. Whatever it was, its head and body were the same size, and its black hair was so long that it dragged on the ground. Its long nose looked like a wooden rod that had been glued to its face, and its distinctive mouth opened all the way to the ears. Takatsuki told the class that the monster wasn’t one of his own drawings, but one that had come from Mikikigusa. “From the summer of the first year of the Tenmei era until the following year, this monster is said to have carried off many boys and girls under the age of fifteen, from a wide area that spanned from what is today Fukushima prefecture, all the way to modern-day Akita prefecture. Ultimately, the monster was shot dead by a hunter, but its true nature is unclear. But this terribly long nose—I wonder if it reminds anyone of a very widely known mythical creature…? That’s right, it looks like a tengu, doesn’t it? There are actually tons of stories of tengu carrying people off.” Takatsuki continued. “As cited in Handout 2, in the essay ‘Shozan Chomon Kishu,’ a story is mentioned in which a boy in the former Mino province was carried away by a tengu while he was taking a bath. In ‘Gaidan Bunbun Shuyo,’ mentioned in Handout 3, there’s a story of a young man being kidnapped by a tengu and carried from Kyoto to Edo. The story happened around eight o’clock at night, on the twentieth of July in 1810. A man was found standing, buck naked, in a daze, on Umamichi Street in Asakusa.” The phrase buck naked had quite the impact on the classroom. Laughter and muttering mixed in the air. With a smile, Takatsuki continued talking. “The man was a twenty-five-year-old from Kyoto named Yasujirou. Two days prior, Yasujirou had made a pilgrimage to Mount Atago in Kyoto, and an old monk told him he would show Yasujirou something interesting. I think even today we’re often told from childhood that we shouldn’t go with strangers, but Yasujirou followed the old monk. He had no memory of what happened afterward. When he came to, he was standing in Asakusa, not even wearing a loincloth. So why did the people of the time think this incident was the work of a tengu? Actually, Yasujirou wasn’t completely naked. He was wearing nothing but his split-toe socks. Those socks had absolutely no mud on them. In that era, it was virtually impossible to travel from Kyoto to Edo in two days, and on top of that, because his feet were clean, people believed he must have flown in the sky. Because tengu have wings, you see. This young man was definitely picked up by a tengu and flown through the sky to get here—that’s how people at the time interpreted it.” Takatsuki’s smoothly flowing voice was as gentle as ever, resounding pleasantly around the room. The first classes post-vacation also tended to be full of students dozing off, but most of the ones in Takatsuki’s class seemed to be listening attentively. Well, it was a strange story about being kidnapped by a tengu, so it was just more fun to listen to than overly scholarly topics. “Now, even so, is anyone wondering why tengu are so linked to disappearance cases? Tengu are a fairly large part of Japanese folklore, aren’t they? In addition to the one at Mount Atago mentioned in the story, the tengu at Mount Kurama in Kyoto are also famous. And it seems that people back in the day believed that the tengu had their own world. The world of the tengu—in other words, the spirit world. A place slightly different from the world of the living. They believed that’s where people went when they were carried off. They also believed there were children who could travel between the two worlds at will, who would go to the tengu world to gain knowledge of it to bring back. A young boy named Torakichi, who appears in Handouts 4 and 5, ‘Heiji Daito’ by Yoshishige Yamazaki and ‘Senkyo Ibun’ by Hirata Atsutane, was said to be one such child. Torakichi served as an errand boy for the tengu that had taken him away for several years. He demonstrated the knowledge he had gained in the tengu world and answered various questions about it. He covered a wide range of topics, including Shinto and Buddhist fables, stories about the world of the tengu, how to treat illnesses, and so on. He was asked some odd questions as well, such as why it was bad to pluck long nose hairs, and if he could give detailed recipes of the dishes his tengu master had made. It’s quite entertaining, so I really recommend reading those books if you have time.” Turning away from the class, Takatsuki started to write on the blackboard. Dressed in his suit jacket, straight-backed, his arm outstretched as he wrote. Looking at Takatsuki’s back, Naoya remembered Ruiko’s words from several days before. Takatsuki had two huge scars on his back. Like he’d had his wings clipped. Maybe Ruiko, who thought Takatsuki was an angel because of those scars, was a bit of a romantic. For starters, if he’d had his wings clipped and fell from the heavens, wouldn’t that make him a fallen angel? Wouldn’t that make him a demon? Even entertaining the topic to that point, Naoya felt foolish. Naturally, Takatsuki wasn’t a demon. The professor was carrying on his lecture from the dais, smiling as he carried on. He looked nothing more than human, of course, and Naoya expected that he was only human, in reality. Sure, he had a somewhat otherworldly atmosphere about him. But then—what was it Takatsuki had told him before? When Naoya had asked him if his ability to hear lies—the price he had paid for going to the festival of the dead—was disgusting to Takatsuki. Right. He had said, “If someone is disgusted by you, I’m sure they would be disgusted by me as well, you know.” What did that mean? Summer break came to a close, and classes started back up before Naoya had the chance to ask. Takatsuki conducted the lecture just as he had in the previous semester, putting the chalk down right as the bell rang to signal the end of class. “Well, that’s all for today. Next week, we’ll cover a different topic. See you then.” In the end, the kamikakushi topic had progressed into tengu fables and kidnapping stories—and even into modern missing persons cases. As always, Takatsuki jumped casually between subjects—from how children were often kidnapped in the past to secure labor forces, to stories of tengu carrying off pretty young boys to keep as their own—but still somehow managed, more or less, to tie everything together by the end. It was amazing. Gathering up his things and heading out of the lecture hall, Naoya thought of going to the library, then felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Taking it out, he saw a message from Takatsuki. “I have some work for you, so please come to my office if you’re free.” Thinking that this semester seemed to be heading in much the same direction as the last, Naoya set a course for Takatsuki’s office instead of the library. When he arrived at the office, he saw on the table a number of confectionery boxes that looked like souvenirs. “What are these?” At Naoya’s question, Takatsuki beamed. He was in the middle of unwrapping a sweet red bean wafer. “Since this morning, each of my graduate students has been bringing me souvenirs from summer vacation! Since everyone knows I love sugary things, I’ve gotten a ton of sweets!” He happily stuffed the wafer into his mouth. He really didn’t look anything like a fallen angel. There were five boxes of sweets on the table. His graduate students really adored him, to bring him that many. The mug Takatsuki had put on the table seemed to contain roasted green tea today, instead of his usual cocoa. “Do you want some coffee, Fukamachi? I have rice crackers over there; feel free to eat some.” Takatsuki stood and went to the coffee maker. There was indeed a package of rice crackers alongside the sweets boxes. “Oh, that’s right. Bring your own personal cup with you next time, okay?” “Huh?” “Unless you just want the Great Buddha cup to be yours? If you like it that much, I’d be happy to give it to you.” Takatsuki held up the colorful Great Buddha mug he always used for Naoya’s coffee. “No, I really don’t like it… I just don’t care about having a personal cup.” “What? But I mean—you come here all the time. And you’re going to major in folklore studies as well, right?” “I haven’t decided yet.” “What?” Naoya really wished Takatsuki wouldn’t look at him like that, with all that genuine surprise on his face. “F-Fukamachi? Aren’t you going to major in folklore studies and be one of my graduate students?” “Like I said, I haven’t decided yet. I said that to Miss Ruiko recently, too, you know.” “Is…is that so…? Hmm… Well, I don’t care if you major in English literature or Japanese history, as long as you work with me…” Takatsuki grumbled to himself as he poured Naoya’s coffee. Apparently, just like Ruiko, the professor had assumed from the beginning that Naoya would be joining his research group. Taking the coffee cup, Naoya looked at Takatsuki again. “So what’s the job today?” “Oh, right. Well, I got this request. It feels timely, as it relates to today’s lecture.” Takatsuki opened his laptop and showed it to Naoya. “It’s from a second-year high school girl who lives in Chofu. She said her friend has been spirited away. I’m thinking of going to meet her and listen to her story. Do you want to come with me, Fukamachi?” “Ah… Sure. I’ll go.” Naoya accepted the invitation, thinking how odd it was that such bizarre incidents happened even in modern times. The high school girl who had emailed Takatsuki was called Hana Mizutani. They met her at a café in front of Chofu Station in the early afternoon on Sunday. When she spotted Takatsuki, she waved quickly at him. She had long brown hair, was wearing light makeup, and looked like an average modern high school girl. As Takatsuki and Naoya sat down across from her, Hana stared at Takatsuki for a minute, happily kicking her feet. “H-h-hi, I’m Hana Mizutani, the person who emailed you! Wow, you are, like, so handsome, omigosh! Can I, like, take a picture of you?” “Hello, I’m Takatsuki, from Seiwa University. This is my student, Fukamachi. Thank you, but no pictures, please.” Hana had lifted her smartphone as she asked for the photo, but Takatsuki gently rebuffed her. She frowned a little. “Why nooot? I won’t post it to, like, Insta or anything.” “Well, because some people may find it suspicious that a college professor is talking to a high school girl. I’m here today to consult with you about the serious matter in your email. That’s why it’s inappropriate to do things like that—things you would normally do with friends.” “Geez… You’re no fun…” Hana started to pout, but when Takatsuki smiled at her, she quickly brightened up and put away her phone. Handsome men sure did have it easy in some ways, Naoya thought. They could improve someone else’s mood like magic with a single smile. Once Takatsuki and Naoya had ordered, Hana went back to staring at the professor, this time while stirring her own iced tea with a straw. “Hey, sooo…do you really believe what I said in my email?” “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have come all the way here,” Takatsuki replied. “Well, I won’t really know until I hear the story in detail. But at the very least, I thought your story didn’t seem like a prank, so I decided to come and hear it in person.” “Huh… I thought adults might not take this kind of thing seriously.” “Ah, well, I’m often told that I have the body and mind of an adult but the heart of a child, so.” “What’s with that?” Hana snorted and burst into giggles. Then her expression changed slightly, and she sat up straight. Until this point, meeting the two of them face-to-face for the first time, she must have been a little nervous. Dropping her easygoing act, Hana looked at them with a serious face. “…So. My friend was spirited away at the end of summer vacation.” The friend was someone she knew from school, Hana told them. Their classes were different, but they were both in the school band. The girl’s name was Sayuki Matsuno. “Oh, I should tell you first: Sayuki has been found already. She was only missing for two days. But…the way she went missing, it was weird.” With that preface, Hana began to tell her story. “My school has a ton of club activities even during summer break. I was also taking a short class for summer term at a cram school. I didn’t have a lot of free time. But I kept telling Sayuki, since it was summer break and all, that I wanted to do something memorable. But the sea is far away, and pools are crowded, so when I asked Sayuki what we should do, she said…‘Let’s do something scary.’” Hana had thought her friend was talking about going to a haunted house or something. There were a lot of amusement parks that put on especially elaborate haunted houses as a part of their limited-time summer programming. But that wasn’t what Sayuki had meant. “‘No, not that, something more real. Something that doesn’t cost money.’ That’s what she said. I was like, ‘What on earth is she talking about?’ so I asked, and she said there was a deserted house in the mountains near her home. People say it’s haunted, and she was talking about sneaking in there in the middle of the night.” “Ah, that’s a very innocent way of having an adventure. Although, it would be trespassing.” Takatsuki smiled wryly. Hana frowned a little, crossed her arms, and sat back hard in her seat. “That’s what I said! I was like, ‘That’s a crime!’” But Sayuki didn’t back down. She laughed and said, “It’s fine; let’s do it.” According to her, there were other kids in the neighborhood near her home who had tested their courage in that house. Even so, Hana was uncomfortable with the idea, and before long, Sayuki had told her, “I get it, I get it. You’re scared; I’m not going to force you to do it.” And “It’s fine; I’ll just do it by myself.” “…I should have tried harder to stop her then.” Hana’s voice started to tremble all of a sudden. Regret plain on her face and in her voice, she continued speaking in a faint voice. “But I didn’t. I told her, ‘Yeah, fine, go by yourself, then! I want to make sure you actually do it, so you better take pictures—or a video or whatever!’ I… I egged her on.” “So did Miss Sayuki go to the deserted house alone?” Hana gave a small nod in response to Takatsuki’s question. Then Sayuki disappeared. Sayuki had told Hana to stay awake because she was going to do a live stream from the house on LINE. But that night, other than a message that said “I’m heading out now,” Hana wasn’t contacted by her friend at all. Hana had assumed Sayuki had merely decided not to go after all because she had realized it was a dumb idea. But the next morning, she learned Sayuki was missing. One of Hana’s friends from her club activities, who was in the same class as Sayuki, had received a LINE message from Sayuki’s parents that said “Our daughter didn’t come home last night. Do you know anything?” The night before, Sayuki had told her parents she was going to the convenience store when she left the house, and she hadn’t come back. Hana had considered telling Sayuki’s parents that their daughter was out doing a silly dare. But right as she was about to contact them, she hesitated. “Because I thought, what if right after I tell them, she turns up safe and sound but gets scolded for doing something stupid? I wasn’t sure what to do…” “Hmm, that might not have been the right call. In that kind of situation, it’s better to tell an adult right away, don’t you think?” “Well, I had a lot to think about in the moment! …So I decided to go check the abandoned house before telling her parents. I thought maybe Sayuki had collapsed in there or something…” “Don’t tell me you went by yourself?” “Yeah… I mean, during the day, obviously. I thought maybe it wouldn’t be scary if it was light out.” She had learned the approximate location of the house from Sayuki. She went looking and found a house that seemed to be the right place. The house appeared extremely dilapidated. Hana was terrified, so much so that she thought about just turning back. But when she remembered that Sayuki may be inside, she couldn’t just give up on her. She thought the neighborhood would be empty enough that she could peek inside the house without being questioned by anyone. She decided to at least start by scouting out the house’s interior from inside the yard, and so she reached for the front gate. Then suddenly, from behind her, someone asked, “Can I help you?” She turned around to find a man in black tracksuit standing there, holding a convenience store bag. Certain that no one lived in the house, Hana had been so surprised she almost leaped into the air. She bowed her head and apologized in a hurry, but the man just stood there staring at Hana with a very wary look on his face. So Hana had said, “Actually, my friend went missing around here. Do you happen to know anything about that?” Head cocked to the side, the man had replied, “I hadn’t heard anything about that.” Sayuki’s disappearance hadn’t been reported, so it made sense that he didn’t know about it. But his next words were baffling. “He was like, ‘But I heard from an older lady who passed away that people often get spirited away around here, so you better be careful, too. If your friend got carried off by something, she’ll turn up somewhere sooner or later, so don’t worry.’” And just as the man had said, they found Sayuki unharmed the very next night. The person who found her reported that she was lying in the street in Hachiōji, far from where she lived. At the time, she was only vaguely conscious, so they took her to the hospital right away. She had no physical trauma in particular, but her memory was vague, and she couldn’t even remember where she had been while she was missing. When she was discharged from the hospital, Hana asked her if she had gone to the deserted house as planned, but Sayuki didn’t even remember that much. Sayuki’s parents suspected their daughter had been forced to drink alcohol or something similar, but nothing was detected in the hospital’s tests. Hana couldn’t help but think her friend had been spirited away, since she had both disappeared and reappeared abruptly. Even Hana’s parents, when they heard the story, said, “It’s just like kamikakushi, isn’t it?” “Since Sayuki has already come home safely, maybe there’s no need to dig into things now. But I can’t help worrying about it.” Hana fixed her gaze on Takatsuki. “Hey, Professor. Is kamikakushi real? What happens to someone while they’re missing? Do they get hurt? Do they suffer? Is it possible to find out what happened to Sayuki while she was gone? If it is, please, please find out!” “…Well, before that, can I say something first?” Hana’s words were pouring out in a rush, and Takatsuki held up a hand slightly to stop her. Hana snapped her mouth shut and blinked. “What is it?” “Well. It’s not your fault that Miss Sayuki disappeared, you know.” Takatsuki’s voice was soft. He looked at Hana dead-on. Hana’s shoulders jolted. Long eyelashes trembling, she looked off a little, trying to escape from Takatsuki’s gaze. When she opened her mouth again, her voice shook in utter dismay. “…B-but I…I should have stopped her. If I had… If I had, then Sayuki—” “When Miss Sayuki suggested going into the house, you rightly told her it was a bad idea. She was the one who ignored you and went alone. Maybe there was an element of friends stubbornly competing with one another that made it hard for her to back down, but that’s not something you should feel responsible for,” Takatsuki said, his voice all gentle reason. On top of the table, both of Hana’s hands balled up into fists. Her face was crumpled, like she was barely seconds away from crying. Just before the tears gathered in her eyes began to fall, she hung her head. The tears pattered onto the table, making splotches on the surface. She really does think it’s her fault, Naoya thought, watching her. To the point that she took the trouble to go to Takatsuki for help. Even if the incident itself was settled, in Hana’s mind, nothing had been resolved yet, it seemed. “Now then, I certainly am interested in finding out what happened to Miss Sayuki. I don’t know yet whether she was spirited away, but I will try to investigate.” Hana dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief and looked up at Takatsuki. “You’ll help…? Really?” “Yep. I’m extremely interested in kamikakushi, so if this case really is one, well.” Takatsuki smiled broadly. Seeing that expression, Naoya recalled a feeling of vague discomfort. This was usually around the time in consultations where Takatsuki went into “Senselessness Mode.” It wouldn’t be out of place for him to hug Hana and start prattling on at a near shout about how excited he was. Putting a stop to that was why Naoya, the Sensible One, was sitting at Takatsuki’s side. But this time, things weren’t going like that. Usually when Takatsuki’s interest wasn’t piqued, it was because he knew from the start that nothing supernatural was involved. But if that was the case here, then what reason was there to accept Hana’s request? Naoya glanced sidelong at Takatsuki, wondering what it all meant. Still looking at Hana, Takatsuki spoke up again. “Speaking of, I’m guessing the reason Miss Sayuki isn’t sitting here with you now is because you haven’t told her you asked me for help. Or maybe you did, and she asked you not to?” “Oh…I didn’t tell her. About consulting you or anything.” “Why?” “If Sayuki herself forgot, I feel like maybe it’s better not to force her to remember. One time I went to her house to ask her a few things about it, but her mom stopped me before I could. She told me, ‘Sayuki might have forgotten out of shock, so just let it be.’ That’s why… Asking you for help, it’s totally for my own benefit… Is that wrong?” Hana’s brow sank, as though her confidence was capsizing, too. Takatsuki shook his head. “It’s not wrong. It just means I won’t be able to talk to Miss Sayuki herself… Do you know anything else about her disappearance or discovery? If you do, please tell me everything.” “Um, I mean, I’ve already told you everything… Oh yeah,” she said, looking like something had just come to mind. “Someone was living in that old house, so it might not have anything to do with Sayuki’s disappearance. But I think wherever she was while she was missing, it must have been indoors.” “Why do you think that?” “Because when they found her, she wasn’t wearing shoes,” Hana said. “But the soles of her feet weren’t dirty at all. Maybe that’s unrelated, but just in case, y’know?” For a moment, it felt like Takatsuki was holding his breath. When Naoya looked at him, he was staring at the table with a slightly tense expression. “…Professor? What’s wrong?” At Naoya’s question, Takatsuki looked over at him, seeming to snap out of it. “No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking it’s like the story in ‘Gaidan Bunbun Shuyo,’ that’s all. You know, the story I told in class last time? Of Yasujirou, who turned up in Asakusa with only one clean sock? It’s a bit similar, isn’t it?” Takatsuki smiled as he answered. But for some reason, that smile seemed terribly sad compared to his usual radiance. They decided to start by investigating the abandoned house. Well, since someone was living there, maybe it wasn’t abandoned, but that’s what they chose to call it for the time being. With Hana guiding them, they took a bus from in front of the station to a stop near Sayuki’s house. Even though they were still in Tokyo, this area was pretty verdant and mountainous. The abandoned house was a short walk from the bus stop. It was built near the middle of a low mountain. The dense, leafy trees looming behind the house made it look like the house itself was about to be engulfed by the mountain. Other houses were sparse in the area, and there was no one walking by. “Wow. This is quite the ‘abandoned house,’ isn’t it?” Takatsuki said. It certainly looked the picture of “abandoned.” Moss clung to the walls here and there, and the trees and grass in the yard were growing as they pleased. Through the balcony, they could see the second floor’s glass door was covered by a silver tarp instead of rain shutters. But because the tarp itself was tattered and half peeled away, the sliding paper shoji door inside was totally visible. The shoji was also so torn to shreds that they could only guess what had caused it. The faint writing on the wooden door plate said HANEDA. Takatsuki pressed the doorbell, but it was likely broken and didn’t seem to produce any sound. When Naoya turned to look at the parking space next to the gate, he saw dead leaves piling up, but no car. Looking out at the practically haunted-seeming house, Naoya muttered without thinking. “…Does someone actually live here?” “Mm, I’m not sure.” Takatsuki’s head cocked to the side. Surveying the building from outside the fence, Takatsuki frowned and pointed at the second floor. “There, do you see that? That window is broken. There are bird droppings and feathers stuck to the frame. I think some kind of bird is building a nest inside… If someone actually does live here, they must be a really kindhearted person who loves wild animals and wants to coexist with nature.” That kind of person probably didn’t exist, Naoya thought. Hana sounded indignant when she replied. “But there really was a man here! He said, ‘Can I help you?’ That probably means he lives here, right?!” “Ah, I’m not doubting what you said. For the time being, it looks like no one is here, so let’s try talking to some people in the area, shall we?” Takatsuki spared one more glance for the abandoned house, then started back the way they had come. They found a park nearby, and when they asked the grade school children playing there if they knew anything about the “haunted house,” they received an enthusiastic response. “Oh, I know, I know! That old worn-out house in the middle of the mountain over there, right? There’s a monster over there, for real!” A boy who seemed like the leader of the kid pack answered them, speaking in a bragging tone. Crouching down to be about eye level with the children, Takatsuki opened his eyes wide. “Really? Have you seen a monster there, by chance?” “I haven’t, but I know there are people who have! Huh, ain’t that right?” When the leader kid asked his friends, they all nodded vigorously. Takatsuki leaned forward, wearing his own childlike expression. “That’s amazing! What kind of monster was it? A woman? A man? Something that wasn’t human, maybe?” “I dunno, but I heard it’s reeeally scary! And some people saw somethin’ that looked like a spirit!” “A spirit? Was it flying in the air?” “Nope, it was in that house! They said they saw it through the window! Nobody lives there, so the lights don’t come on even at night, but they saw somethin’ that was glowing a little moving around inside!” “Whoa, really? That’s scary!” “Right! But I know an even scarier story. Wanna hear it?” “I want to, I want to! What kind of story?” Squatting with his elbows resting on his knees, staring up at the leader kid, Takatsuki’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Naoya and Hana watched from a short distance away as the leader kid began to triumphantly share a scary story about his own school. Hana whispered to Naoya as they looked on. “…Somehow that professor is really good with little kids. Doesn’t he work at a college? He’s not really an elementary school teacher, is he? Or a kindergarten teacher?” “No, well… I think that’s why people say he has ‘the body and mind of an adult but the heart of a child,’ you know?” “Ah… I get it now.” “Yeah…” Ultimately, the group of kids took to Takatsuki like moths to a flame. The leader kid even told him, “I’ll make you my disciple,” but Takatsuki said, “Those big kids over there are calling for me, so I have to go,” bid the children good-bye, and returned to Naoya and Hana. It was impressive to see all the children shouting, “Come visit again!” at Takatsuki as he waved and called “Bye-bye” over his shoulder. Naoya felt it was rare for someone to charm children this much when meeting them for the first time. Well, maybe an adult who looked cool but talked and acted like a kid was something that appealed to them. Takatsuki himself seemed to have a lot of fun, too. “Whew, I didn’t expect it, but I even managed to gather some info about a ghost story from a school around here. Those kids were all so great!” “…Wait, did you forget why we’re here? You didn’t, right?” Hana glared at Takatsuki, who laughed loudly. “Ha-ha, it’s fine; I haven’t forgotten! Now then, I’d like to try talking to an adult, too… Oh, that person looks like they might be good. Excuuuse me!” Smiling, he called out to a woman walking in their direction. She looked like she might be a stay-at-home parent. In stark contrast to his childish behavior from just before, Takatsuki spoke to the woman in a calm, gentlemanly manner, quickly getting her to open up. Hana gaped at him. “Hey, what is that guy’s deal? Is he a pickup artist? A playboy? Or just a professional interrogator?” “…He’s a professor at my school, so I’d rather go with ‘professional interrogator,’ as far as that goes.” “I mean, like, adults are crazy, aren’t they…?” “Hana, that’s not right. That guy isn’t a normal adult, so you don’t need to assume adults are usually like that, okay?” “…You really don’t hold back, huh?” Despite Hana’s considerable reluctance, Takatsuki’s interviews ended up being largely successful, and he gathered a substantial amount of information about the abandoned house. The three of them rode the bus for a short while back to the station and decided to get a light meal at a fast-food restaurant while sorting out the information they had gathered. “First off, it seems like no one lives in that house, after all.” Takatsuki picked up a single French fry as he made his declaration. “But…!” When Hana opened her mouth to protest loudly, Takatsuki shoved the French fry into it, silencing her so he could continue. “To begin with, the testimony from Tomoki, the leader kid at the park: ‘Nobody lives there, so the lights don’t come on even at night…’ In other words, this is a fact that even children know. I also asked an adult after that, and she said, ‘There shouldn’t be anyone living over there now.’ Apparently, an elderly woman lived there by herself up until a few years ago, but she passed away, and no one has lived there since. That woman had a son, but he owns a house far away, so for the time being, that house is abandoned. I was told that the neighborhood association discussed wanting to cut down the tree in the yard because it was growing all the way to the road, but they couldn’t get in touch with the house’s owner, so it’s just being left as is.” “…Then who was the person I saw?” “I’m not sure. I think you can find out who the current owner is by looking up the registration information on the internet, but…it’s possible a person moved in without permission. Although, it’s not just people who move into places of their own accord.” This time, Takatsuki laughed while putting a French fry in his own mouth. Hana frowned. “What do you mean, ‘not just people’?” “I mean there’s a nonzero chance that something not human is living there, right? Demons or ghosts or something. I’m not ready to give up on those dreams just yet.” “Professor, let’s be a bit more serious, shall we?” Takatsuki’s eyes had begun to sparkle with excitement, but Naoya quickly reeled him in. The professor pushed his fries toward Naoya apologetically. Naoya didn’t particularly want an apology gift, but whatever. “Seriously speaking, well, it’s quite common for homeless people and criminals to sneak into vacant houses. Tomoki said he heard of people seeing spirits floating in the windows. It could have been people carrying flashlights inside, for example, instead of spirits. No one knew about the kamikakushi rumors, either. It was well-known as a haunted house among the children, and Miss Sayuki was aware of it, too. But the form of the monster that Tomoki talked about wasn’t concrete in the slightest. Typically, if you’re telling a ghost story, you at least state whether the monster is male or female, right? In other words, I think it’s best to consider that the house got a reputation for being haunted because of the way it looks. It’s not uncommon for a thought like That house is old and scary to evolve into There must be a monster in there and ultimately become People have seen monsters there, without any basis at all.” “Then… Then what about Sayuki? What happened to her?” “The truth is: I still don’t know. But I came this far, and I do want to figure it out.” Listening to Takatsuki as he ate his hamburger, Naoya had an awful hunch. “Professor. It’s fine to want to know, but how do you plan to find out?” “Well, there’s nothing else to do but go inside that house.” Takatsuki answered casually, face placid. Naoya was shocked. “You said yourself that’s a bad idea! It’s trespassing!” “Only if I get caught.” “If you get caught? I can’t believe you…” “Come on; don’t you think the only way to the truth is in that house?” Takatsuki leaned toward Naoya, the corners of his mouth turned upward. He was too close. His sense of personal space was so weird. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That’s an old adage, you know. If you aren’t prepared to take some risks, you won’t get what you want… What? It’s fine! If push comes to shove, I’ve got a guy on the force!” “Is that how you treat Mr. Sasakura? How awful.” “It’s my policy to utilize anything that can be useful.” Naoya started to feel bad for Sasakura. He had probably been used like this before, by his leech of a childhood friend. Hana shook her head frantically. “Hey, you don’t have to go that far; it would be bad if you got caught, right?” “It’s fine, I said. I’ll make sure I don’t get caught, and even if I do, I have tricks up my sleeve… Now then, that’s all for you today, Miss Hana. You too, Fukamachi. I’ll be going into that house alone, so you two head home after you’ve eaten.” “What? No way!” “No, I’m going with you!” Takatsuki smiled in response to Hana’s and Naoya’s raised voices. “Nope. There’s no way I can invite young people with promising futures to join me in a criminal activity. Listen to your teacher, okay?” It’s not fair of you to only act like a teacher at a time like this, Naoya thought. Nevertheless, Hana certainly couldn’t tag along past this point. It was getting late, and they couldn’t let her get mixed up in any danger. Hana reluctantly agreed to go home after Takatsuki was able to mollify her by saying he would contact her after he was done looking into the house. “Really, you have to, okay? You absolutely have to contact me. I don’t want to hear that you’ve gone missing, too, okay?” They escorted Hana, who anxiously repeated the same question over and over—to the bus stop. After she was gone, Takatsuki turned to Naoya once more. “…Time for you to go home as well, Fukamachi.” “I don’t want to.” Takatsuki looked troubled. “Come on now, you’ve got to listen to your professor. If something happened to you, I really wouldn’t be able to face your parents.” “My parents have nothing to do with this… They rarely want anything to do with me anyway.” “You shouldn’t say that.” Takatsuki sighed, then looked slightly up toward the sky. Naoya followed suit. The sky at the end of September got dark quickly, compared to how it had been in the height of summer. The sun was already sinking below the western horizon, leaving only a faint afterglow behind. Standing in front of the well-lit train station, he couldn’t quite make out the stars, but night was already starting to unfurl across the sky. The trailing clouds were turning indigo before the sky itself, which was still clinging to the faint light of day. Beneath the clouds, several ravens were flying by. Following their flapping black silhouettes with his eyes, Naoya spoke. “…There are birds living in that house.” Takatsuki looked at him in surprise. With a slightly mean-spirited smile, Naoya turned his gaze to the professor. “What are you going to do if you come across a bird inside?” “…I’ll make sure not to go upstairs, so it’ll be fine. They generally only build their nests on upper floors. The first floor should be safe.” “But you can’t be sure that’s the case, right?” Takatsuki’s brow furrowed, and his mouth snapped shut. Feeling a little buoyed by besting Takatsuki for the first time, Naoya leaned in close toward the other man all at once, using his own habit against him. He carried on talking, his face near Takatsuki’s. “Don’t you think it’s better if I go, too? Wouldn’t you hate it if you encountered some birds in there and fainted, and then the birds landed on you and pecked at you and pooped on you?” “…Don’t say something like that; it’s too disgusting to even imagine.” Takatsuki leaned back a little to get away from Naoya, a genuinely repulsed look on his face. Apparently, he couldn’t take it as well as he could give it out. It was kind of funny. For a while, Takatsuki glared up at the sky, looking grossed out. Then, as he lowered his chin again, he put a hand on top of Naoya’s head. Even though there was already a height difference between them, out of nowhere, Takatsuki’s hand pushed down hard on Naoya’s head, forcing him even lower. “Fukamachi, you’re quite the cheeky little brat, aren’t you?!” “Hey, wh-what are you doing?!” Takatsuki’s hand ruffled Naoya’s hair violently as Naoya flailed and struggled. Somehow, Naoya managed to escape Takatsuki’s hold, and when he turned back around, trying to tame his tousled hair, he found Takatsuki laughing. “…I guess I have no choice, hmm? Fine, then. Let’s go together. But in exchange, if something happens, you have to get out of there before me.” “What do you mean, ‘something’?” “I mean in case whatever is in that house is a criminal or a monster.” “You would include monsters on the list of possibilities, wouldn’t you?” “What’s wrong with that?! Like I said, there’s a nonzero possibility!” With that retort, Takatsuki puffed up sullenly like a child. After waiting for night to fall, Naoya and Takatsuki returned once more to the abandoned house. In the dark, the house looked just like something out of a horror movie, and Naoya came to a stop in front of the gate. He swallowed reflexively. Perhaps hearing that sound, Takatsuki looked over at him, speaking in a quiet voice. “If you’re scared, it’s okay to wait here, you know?” “…I’m not scared.” Takatsuki gave a small snort of laughter at his reply. Annoyed, Naoya stepped ahead of the other man and approached the gate. When he tried to push it open, the gate creaked. He reined in the pressure from his hand immediately. Ever so slowly, as quietly as possible, he eased open the gate. As Naoya was about to step toward the front door, Takatsuki tapped him on the shoulder. He gestured toward the side entrance, which was accessible through the yard, and seemed to be indicating they should go in that way. They tramped through the overgrown grass into the yard. Autumn insects chirped away as they approached the building. Naoya had a mini flashlight at the ready, but he didn’t dare turn it on yet. He didn’t want to alert anyone in the area, and there was also the possibility that, if someone was inside the house, they would take notice. The rain shutters on the first floor were pulled shut. Takatsuki stepped quietly up onto the porch and tried the first set of shutters. The first set didn’t budge, but the next ones moved with a small squeak. Takatsuki looked over his shoulder at Naoya, who nodded back at him. Together, they pushed open the shutters at a silent, glacial pace. Once there was a gap big enough for a person to go through, Takatsuki reached past the shutters to the interior glass door and pushed it. It slid open smoothly. The professor crept in through the narrow opening, Naoya on his heels. Inside, the room was Japanese style. By the light of the outdoor lamp that was streaming in, Naoya could just make out an old chest of drawers and a dressing table. Takatsuki suddenly squatted down where he stood. Ignoring Naoya, who stood over him wondering what on earth he was doing, Takatsuki trailed his fingers over the straw tatami floor. He seemed to be checking the condition of the floor. Compared to how it looked on the outside, the house’s interior wasn’t very worn down. Nodding once, Takatsuki took off his leather shoes. Following suit, Naoya removed his sneakers. Takatsuki pulled the glass door nearly closed, leaving a small gap. Moving quietly over the tatami floor, they stopped at the room’s entrance and peered into the hallway. It was quiet inside the house. There were no signs of activity. There certainly weren’t any lights on, either. Takatsuki took out his mini flashlight and continued down the corridor, examining the other rooms. There was a kitchen. Illuminated by the white light, the room really didn’t feel that neglected. The calendar stuck to the wall was from two years prior. The cupboards and refrigerator were intact. Inexplicably, Naoya felt the urge to open the refrigerator. It didn’t seem to be plugged in, but maybe there was something inside… Like a body. Takatsuki tapped him on the shoulder again. He looked to the corner of the room, where Takatsuki was pointing, and saw a bunch of convenience store bags scattered about. It looked like there were leftover food wrappers and plastic bottles inside the bags. Someone had been here, after all. Takatsuki went farther into the house. Beyond the kitchen was a living room with a sofa and television inside. A faint, strange smell hung in the air. It was a grassy, cloying smell Naoya had never encountered before. Takatsuki’s flashlight landed on a glass door that seemed to lead into the yard, and something odd caught Naoya’s eye. Instead of a curtain, the door was covered in brown packing tape, as if someone had tried to seal up the opening. It made him think of people who died by suicide by burning charcoal in an enclosed space. Could someone have tried to do that in the house? But there weren’t any dead bodies, and the smell wafting through the room didn’t seem like burned charcoal. Takatsuki picked up something from under the sofa and shone his light on it. It was a withered, palm-shaped leaf. “…I see,” Takatsuki murmured softly. “So that’s what’s going on.” “Professor…? What is that?” “It’s cannabis. Someone was growing cannabis here.” Takatsuki’s voice had gone dull. Naoya stared in shock at the leaf in Takatsuki’s hand. Wasn’t cannabis used to make narcotics? Was it legal to grow something like that? It couldn’t be, if it was being done like this in a deserted old house. “This is an unexpectedly boring outcome, isn’t it?” Takatsuki spoke. “Some unsavory sort must have had their eye on this house once it was abandoned. They’ve been growing cannabis here in secret. It’s probably necessary to control the amount of light used in growing cannabis, so they taped off the door to totally block outside light from coming in. That sort of thing.” He pointed his flashlight at the packing tape again. “Whoever it is probably doesn’t live here but comes by now and then to tend to the plants. They might even have spread the rumor that this house is haunted. Told it to children to keep them away, possibly… Although, it seems there are kids like Miss Sayuki who were drawn in by the story instead.” “Then Sayuki—” “More than likely, the bad guys just happened to be here when she sneaked in, and they ran into each other. She wasn’t fully conscious when she was found, right? They probably forced her to get high. Then they weren’t sure what to do with her, loaded her into a car to avoid being seen, and dumped her in Hachiōji.” “But cannabis… Couldn’t they find something like that in someone’s system right away with a drug test?” “If this was America, sure. But here, when a missing minor is found, administering a drug test isn’t usually the first thing on anyone’s mind. Miss Sayuki was lucky not to be killed.” Takatsuki’s words were terrifying. But that could very well have happened, couldn’t it? Because the beings haunting this house weren’t monsters—they were criminals. “So what do we do?” “Hmm, I’m guessing they moved their growing operation somewhere else after the incident with Miss Sayuki. If so, it would be hard to track them down. But we can’t pretend we didn’t see it, either. For now, let’s consult KenKen.” Takatsuki took a picture of the leaf he was holding with his phone. He emailed the photo to Sasakura, along with the house’s GPS information. The response was immediate. “…Ah. He’s mad. He says, ‘What are you doing, stupid?’” Takatsuki smiled wryly at the message on his phone. “He says he’s on his way. Let’s go outside for the time be—” Something interrupted him. The sound of a car outside. With a start, Takatsuki turned off his flashlight. They heard what sounded like the slamming of a car door, right outside the house. It couldn’t be. They both headed for the Japanese-style room they had first entered, but Takatsuki was quicker. He moved easily through the dark without bumping into anything. He might have memorized the house’s layout and the location of the furniture as they came inside. By the time Naoya, who had to fumble and stagger his way forward, made it to the room, Takatsuki was peering outside through the crack he had left in the door. He quickly picked up both his and Naoya’s shoes and moved away from the door. Takatsuki met Naoya’s gaze and shook his head slightly. Someone was making their way into the house. Someone—well, it had to be the people who had grown the cannabis. Naoya looked at the professor with a pleading gaze. Takatsuki’s keen eyes surveyed their surroundings, then he grabbed Naoya’s arm and pulled him into the hallway. They found the staircase, climbed up a few steps, and hunkered down. Apparently, the plan was to hide behind the staircase wall and wait until the danger was past. As soon as they squatted down, Naoya heard the rain shutters moving. The shutters were pulled open with a clatter, much more carelessly than Naoya and Takatsuki had done. Naoya supposed if the criminals were going in and out of the house often, they were probably used to the sound. Then there was the creaking of the tatami floor. They were inside the house. They were having a conversation loudly enough to be overheard. “…Hey, are you serious about that? Settin’ a fire. Didn’t we get rid of pretty much anything incriminating? There’s nothing left that could be used as evidence. I don’t think we gotta go that far.” “I’m not takin’ any chances. We don’t know if that girl is gonna squeal about this place… We did make her smoke a whole bunch, though, so she coulda forgot.” The voices belonged to two men. They were still in the Japanese-style room. But the topic of conversation was horrifying. “Setting a fire.” Did that mean they were planning to burn the whole house down to destroy the evidence? Takatsuki looked back at Naoya and pressed his index finger to his lips. Keep quiet, he was saying. Phone in hand, he fired off another email to Sasakura. After a while spent waiting on the stairs, the two men moved from the Japanese-style room to the living room. The sound of footsteps walking about was followed by the creak of the sofa springs. Apparently, they were sitting down. Very quietly, Takatsuki put on his shoes. Naoya slipped into his sneakers just as carefully. The front door was right across from the stairs. It was the fastest route out. Takatsuki and Naoya locked eyes, nodded, and slowly crept down the stairs. Naoya stepped down into the foyer, and— Clang! There was a metallic crash at Naoya’s feet. Crap, Naoya thought, face crumpling into a grimace. It felt like he had kicked an empty metal bucket or something. “Hey! Who’s there?!” A man’s voice shouted from the living room. Spotting the two of them, the man started sprinting in their direction. “Fukamachi, the door!” Takatsuki pushed Naoya toward the front door, then turned back and stepped into the hallway. He was protecting Naoya. Naoya turned the doorknob, but the door didn’t open. For an instant, he almost panicked, then realized it must be locked and hurriedly slid back the bolt. As he struggled with the door, he could hear the man who had run toward them taking a swing at Takatsuki. When he heard something hit the wall with a bang, he reflexively looked over his shoulder to find Takatsuki pinning the other man up against the hallway. “Fukamachi, hurry!” the professor yelled. Naoya turned the knob again, and this time, it opened. Yes, he thought, pushing on the door—but it only opened a few inches before stopping short with a clatter. Eyes wide in fear, Naoya tried to find out why—and saw it. The door chain was fastened. Berating himself for his stupidity, he tried to remove it. It wouldn’t budge. His panicked fingers fumbled with the chain, but that wasn’t the problem. It was rusted in place. “Fukamachi!” “It’s no use; it won’t open!” On the verge of tears, Naoya yelled back and heard Takatsuki click his tongue. By that time, the other criminal had descended upon them. Holding the first man against the wall with one hand, Takatsuki used his free arm to guard himself from the second man’s raised fist. He swept the first man’s legs out from underneath him with his foot, sending the man crashing to the floor. But in the time it took him to do that, the second man, who looked stronger than the first, had seized Takatsuki by the collar. He slammed Takatsuki into the wall with brute force. The man sunk several punches into Takatsuki’s stomach, and the professor’s knees buckled. “…!” Shouting incoherently, Naoya launched himself into the fray. Deliberately treading on the first man, who was trying to get up from the floor, he threw himself headfirst into the flank of the man who was holding Takatsuki against the wall. Caught off guard, the man lost his balance, and Takatsuki pushed himself away from the wall. He punched the second man in the face, then grabbed Naoya’s arm and shoved him up the stairs without a word. There was only one way out now. Naoya ran toward the second floor with Takatsuki behind him. The angry bellows of the two criminals followed him as well. He was too afraid to look over his shoulder. As he set foot on the second floor, the men’s voices suddenly shifted from furious yells to shouts of surprise, accompanied by the sound of something tumbling down the stairs. Glancing back instinctively, he saw Takatsuki with one foot aloft. He seemed to have kicked their pursuers back down to the first floor. “Professor!” “Just get to the back room!” Naoya rushed into the rearmost room at Takatsuki’s chastising tone. Takatsuki followed him in, and Naoya could see the two men dashing up the stairs after them once more. Heart in his throat, Naoya slammed the room’s sliding door shut. He noticed Takatsuki heaving a bookcase over from next to the door and jumped in to help. Just before the men reached them, they shoved the bookcase up against the door, pinning it in place. The men pounded on the door, but Naoya and Takatsuki threw their body weight against the shelf to keep the door jammed shut. “Fukamachi, go see whether we can get out through the window—” Takatsuki broke off midsentence as a rustling noise resounded in the room, mixing with his voice. Startled, Takatsuki’s whole body started to tremble. Despairingly, Naoya turned to look around the room. Countless flashes of white crossed his field of vision. Feathers. He heard Takatsuki suck in a breath. Neither of them, when they were rushing to get into the room, had noticed the state of things beyond the door. This was the room with the broken window. A group of pigeons perched on the shelves across from the window. It looked like they were nesting there. The commotion must have agitated them, because all at once, the birds started flapping their wings. Dozens of pigeons were flying around the room. Takatsuki crumpled to his knees. “Professor!” Clutching his head in both hands, Takatsuki groaned. He was shaking from head to toe. With him down, it became a lot harder to hold the door shut. Naoya pressed his back into the bookcase, leaning his whole weight against it, and shouted at Takatsuki. “Professor! Professor, please pull it together!” “…Stop… No…” Curled into a ball on the floor, Takatsuki started to scream. “Professor! Professor Takatsuki!” “No, stop…! Let me go, no…!” “Professor! Professor!” Naoya called out desperately to the other man as nonsensical mutterings fell from his mouth. Then, suddenly, Takatsuki raised his head. Naoya stared in shock. The professor’s wide-open eyes were glowing blue. The birds were still flying around the room. The outside light streaming in through the torn shoji screen illuminated the birds’ white feathers as they floated to the floor and shone on Takatsuki, hunched beneath them. But the light coming from Takatsuki’s eyes was shining brighter. “No… Stop, I’m begging you…” His glowing blue gaze was overflowing with terror. “I… I don’t…want to go…” All at once, Takatsuki slumped forward onto the floor, like a puppet with its strings cut. Naoya immediately tried to reach for him but felt the door rattling behind him like it was about to slide open. Panicked, he pushed his weight back onto the bookshelf. He held the door closed, fighting back tears the whole time. He wasn’t sure how long that lasted. After what felt like an eternity, he suddenly realized that, at some point without his realizing it, the other side of the door had gone silent. He couldn’t hear any angry voices or pounding. Quietly, Naoya stood up and backed away from the bookshelf. He listened again for any noises from outside the room but didn’t hear anything. Had the men left? Naoya approached Takatsuki’s fallen form and shook his shoulder. There was no reaction. He was out cold. He didn’t so much as stir, even when Naoya whispered his name. Then a strange smell filled Naoya’s nose. It was different from the one in the living room. It smelled burnt. Alarmed, Naoya looked around for the source and noticed white smoke billowing in through a gap in the door. What had those men been talking about when they entered the house earlier? Right— Something about setting a fire. Had they really done it? Were they actually planning to erase all the evidence in the house—and Naoya and Takatsuki along with it? Hurriedly shoving the bookcase out of the way, he tugged on the door. It didn’t move. Some kind of rod or something was jamming it shut from outside. Naoya banged on the door in desperation. This couldn’t be real. He went to the window and looked down, seeing smoke rising from below. It seemed like the only thing currently burning was the living room, but he knew the fire would eventually spread. This was bad. “Professor! Please wake up! If we don’t get out, we’re going to burn to death!” He tried waking Takatsuki, but it was useless. He would have to carry the unconscious man out. But no matter how hard he tried, Naoya was only strong enough to drag Takatsuki up for a minute. Sudden bursts of strength in emergencies—those kinds of things weren’t real. There was no way he would be able to hoist him over his shoulder. In the meantime, smoke continued to fill the room. He was starting to feel the heat from the flames, too. Coughs erupted from his lungs. Pulling Takatsuki’s head into his own lap, Naoya looked down at the professor’s face and silently begged him to wake up. But Takatsuki’s long-lashed eyelids didn’t even flutter. What should he do? What could he do? How could things have come to this? He never thought he could be this helpless. Looking between the smoke pouring into the room and the unconscious Takatsuki, Naoya felt utterly lost. He prayed to no one in particular for help. Please come quickly. Someone. Anyone. He took his smartphone from his pocket with trembling fingers. But who should he call? The fire department? The police? Would they even be able to make it in time? The most reliable person Naoya knew, no matter what he usually said, was here, unconscious. The smoke was getting worse. Taking out his handkerchief, Naoya covered Takatsuki’s mouth. He pressed his own mouth to the top of his shoulder, trying to protect himself from breathing in the smoke, if only a little. Even if a neighbor noticed the fire and called for help, would he and Takatsuki be able to survive until help arrived? If he was supposed to be the Sensible One, why hadn’t he stopped Takatsuki from coming here in the first place? The professor was still unconscious. “Professor…I absolutely do not want to die with you in a place like this…” Takatsuki had told him to escape on his own if anything happened. As if he could do that. Then— Hearing the sound of a car coming to a stop in front of the house, Naoya’s head snapped up. “Akira! Fukamachi! Hey, where are you?!” Sasakura’s voice. He came for them. Naoya screamed toward the window. “Mr. Sasakura! We’re on the second floor! The back room!” There was no reply. But moments later, he heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. “Back here!” Naoya tried to yell, coughing, right before a clanging sound came from outside the room. Ripping the door open, Sasakura stepped inside. “Akira! Fukamachi! Are you all right?!” Feeling like he was about to sob with relief at the sight of Sasakura’s huge, reliable form, Naoya somehow managed to say, “We’re safe.” Although Naoya had struggled to even lift him, Sasakura hoisted Takatsuki onto his back with ease and carried him outside. The fire was spreading from the living room into the hallway, but it had only barely made it to the Japanese-style room that led into the yard. As they stepped outside, a fire engine and a police car were just pulling up to the house. Sasakura carelessly tossed Takatsuki into the back seat of the car he was driving, pushed Naoya into the passenger seat, and had a short conversation with the uniformed police officer who got out of the patrol car. Before long, he came back to the car he had put them in and climbed into the driver’s seat. “…I’m gonna take Akira home first.” A moment later, he turned the key in the ignition. Behind them, the firefighters had started battling the fire. For a little while, Naoya watched through the rear window as they blasted the blazing house with a fire hose. Then he turned his gaze to Takatsuki in the back seat. The other man was sprawled listlessly across the seat, having not moved at all from how Sasakura had tossed him into the car. “…” As soon as Naoya opened his mouth, he started to cough. Sasakura, one hand on the wheel, held out a plastic bottle of water to him. It was open and partially consumed, but Naoya took it gratefully. The cool water seemed to seep into his smoke-parched throat. “…U-um.” Sasakura shot a scowl at him when he opened his mouth again. Naoya continued, even though that sharp glare momentarily tripped him up. “Y-you came quickly.” “Yeah. I jumped in a car as soon as Akira emailed me.” Sasakura’s voice was even huskier than usual, probably because of the smoke, and sounded like it would work well at intimidating someone. “Is it okay that you left work? Won’t the police department mind?” “It was right at the end of my workday. I had to commandeer a car from a colleague, but it’s probably fine.” Was it fine? Naoya didn’t know. The car looked like a regular vehicle from the outside, but it was actually an unmarked cop car. The incessantly chattering police radio was grating. Sasakura continued driving in silence. He was an unexpectedly careful driver. He only glanced away from the road for a second when the words “suspicious vehicle found” came over the radio. After they had been on the road for a bit, Sasakura said, “Hey. Tell me what happened. It’s gonna be a little while longer until we reach Akira’s apartment.” Naoya told him everything that had gone on until that point. When he mentioned kamikakushi, he thought he saw Sasakura’s grip on the steering wheel twitch for a second, but other than that, he let Naoya keep talking without showing any signs of paying attention. At the end of the story, Sasakura let out a heavy sigh. “…Dammit, you idiot!” And slammed his fist into the side window with a thud. Naoya apologized reflexively. “I-I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.” “No, I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to the idiot passed out in the back, that dumbass!” Sasakura snapped at him, looking even more like a rabid dog than usual. Then he drummed his fingers against the steering wheel for a while, agitated, and sighed again. “…For the time being, I’m gonna let the whole trespassing thing go.” “Um, do things like this happen a lot?” Naoya asked. Sasakura scowled at him again. “Yes.” He went back to drumming on the steering wheel. He didn’t know if that yes was in response to things like covering up the trespassing, Takatsuki losing consciousness and collapsing, or getting caught up in criminal activity. He didn’t dare ask. He had a feeling the answer was all of the above anyway. Takatsuki’s apartment was in Yoyogi. Sasakura heaved the still-unconscious Takatsuki onto his back again. Naoya searched Takatsuki’s pockets to find the key, and once the door was open, he walked inside like he was thoroughly familiar with the place. The two-bedroom apartment was meticulously clean. But just like Takatsuki’s office, it was full of bookshelves. Unlike the shelves at the office, these ones were full of books that didn’t have to do with the professor’s research. There were collections of landscape photography and novels, among other things. Naoya even saw the spine of a book that he had read himself, and for some reason, he was both happy and a little surprised. “…You have this many books at home, Professor?” “What?” Hearing Naoya muttering to himself, Sasakura turned around. “No, it’s just—he can memorize every sentence and picture simply from reading something once, right? So I thought he wouldn’t have any books at home.” “Ah. He says he enjoys his favorite books no matter how many times he’s read them. I tried to tell him once he should throw some out because this place was overflowing with books. Said it was fine since he’d remember them anyway. He told me, ‘Just as someone can be happy no matter how many times they see someone they love, reading a favorite book is enjoyable no matter how many times you reread it…’ I don’t really get it, but whatever.” Sasakura snorted. Apparently, he wasn’t a big reader. “Anyway, bring me some towels from that bathroom over there. I’m gonna put this guy to bed for now, but if I lay him down before he gets cleaned up, he’ll get mad at me later for the sheets getting dirty. He’s really annoying like that.” Following Sasakura’s instructions, Naoya spread the bathroom towels over the bed and pillows. After removing Takatsuki’s jacket, Sasakura laid him on the bed. Hair disheveled and face streaked with soot, Takatsuki was a mere shadow of his usually gentlemanly self. Trying to at least clean up his face, Naoya wiped at the ash with a damp towel. Even then, the professor showed no signs of stirring. Understandably concerned, Naoya turned to Sasakura. “Um. Is he really okay? He’s not waking up at all.” “It’s like tripping a circuit breaker. He’ll recover if we just leave him be.” “…He’s not a laptop.” “It’s similar, okay? Anyway, he’s not gonna be waking up for a while, so if you wanna draw on his face or something, there’s a pen over there. You could give him nose hairs, write idiot on his forehead, whatever you want.” “I-I’m not going to do that…! I mean, he got beat up by those guys earlier. I’m worried about that, too.” “Beat up? Where?” “His stomach, I’m pretty sure… He got hit a few times…” Hearing that, Sasakura frowned and looked down at Takatsuki. “…Well, it doesn’t look like he’s vomited at all. He’s probably fine, but…I might as well check to be safe.” He started unbuttoning Takatsuki’s shirt. With his torso bared, Naoya could see several spots around his stomach that had turned red. They must have been where he was punched. Sasakura put his hand to the area gently. “No fever, either. I’m pretty sure he’ll be all right like this.” He started to button Takatsuki’s shirt back up, then seemed to decide it was too troublesome halfway through. “He’s gonna change when he wakes up anyway. I guess there’s no need to button it.” Muttering that to himself, Sasakura roughly yanked a discarded futon up over Takatsuki. Naoya wasn’t sure if his generally careless treatment of the other man was because they were longtime friends or if it was just a matter of personality. Takatsuki’s upper half was still mostly uncovered due to the sloppy way the futon had been put over him. He shouldn’t be cold at this time of year, but Naoya fixed the futon anyway. His bare skin was quite pale, compared to most men, and it made the red spots where he had been hit stand out even more pitifully. As he adjusted the futon, Naoya suddenly remembered what Ruiko had told him. There were two scars on Takatsuki’s back that looked like someone had cut off his wings, she had said. The professor was totally passed out. If Naoya turned him over now, would he be able to see those scars? “Hey. What’re you doing?” Sasakura’s voice took him by surprise. Unconsciously, Naoya had reached a hand toward Takatsuki’s shoulder. He withdrew his hand in a flash and looked over at Sasakura. “U-um.” He started to say something, but Sasakura’s razor-sharp gaze stopped him, and he dropped his eyes back to Takatsuki. Asleep, he looked just like a finely crafted doll. With his face placid, it was easy to see how well-formed his features were. Naoya felt like he was looking down at an unfamiliar face, probably because the Takatsuki in his mind was always smiling. “Um.” He remembered. Takatsuki’s eyes, right before he collapsed. His glowing blue gaze, the color of the night sky. “No, I don’t want to go,” he had said. Something like that. Like he was seeing something from the past. “Um, Mr. Sasakura… Can I ask you something?” “What is it?” “What on earth happened to Professor Takatsuki?” The question slipped from Naoya’s mouth. Sasakura raised one eyebrow. “What on earth happened to make him like this?” There was something else, too. One other recollection. In Takatsuki’s office, right before the end of summer break. The odd thing Takatsuki had said to him after Naoya told him everything about what happened when he was young. “If someone is disgusted by you, I’m sure they would be disgusted by me as well, you know.” He had been trying to deduce the meaning behind those words ever since. It was as if Takatsuki was saying he and Naoya were one and the same. Eyes the color of the night sky. An extraordinarily strong memory. The more he thought about it, the less those traits seemed like normal human features. The same way that Naoya’s ears weren’t normal. Was Takatsuki also…? “…Why do you want to know?” Sasakura’s rebuttal was the same as it had been when Naoya asked before. “I’m not sure. But…it’s not just out of curiosity. Really, genuinely…I want to know.” Even if it meant crossing a line. After all, Takatsuki had already stepped over the lines Naoya had drawn when Naoya told him everything. So Naoya wanted to know about Takatsuki, even if it meant reaching out over the barriers surrounding him. He wanted to know the real shape of this man who was always smiling. Sasakura looked down at Naoya and clicked his tongue. Then he turned on his heel and started to leave the room, and Naoya hurriedly called out after him. “M-Mr. Sasakura—” “Come with me. Akira will be fine here. Let’s get something to drink.” Sasakura shepherded Naoya onto the couch in the living room, then went to the kitchen. Unabashedly, like he really was used to doing so, he started rooting around in the refrigerator. “Dammit, no actual food in here, as usual… He doesn’t really cook, you see… Thinks he’s funny, putting shit like mozzarella cheese in here… Well, it’s still good, so we might as well eat it.” Sasakura muttered threateningly to himself and pulled out a ball of cheese and a tomato. After a little while, he came back with a plate of sliced mozzarella and tomato drizzled with olive oil. Considering Takatsuki didn’t cook often, Naoya was surprised to see he at least had some things that could be served as snacks. Somehow that felt befitting of an adult man. Especially for one who usually only ate sweets. Sasakura also grabbed a bottle of wine from a shelf. He started to pour two glasses, then paused. “…Fukamachi. Are you still underage?” “Yes.” “No wine for you, then. I’m pretty sure there was some ginger ale in the fridge; have some of that.” He jutted his chin toward the refrigerator. Go get it yourself, he seemed to be saying. He was a police officer, Naoya remembered. He probably didn’t approve of underage drinking. Peeking into the refrigerator, Naoya saw a bottle of dry ginger ale. He didn’t like drinking sweet things, but he thought he could handle this, so he grabbed the bottle and went back to the couch. Sasakura was already sipping at his wine when he started to speak. “Akira was spirited away when he was twelve.” “Huh…?” Naoya’s eyes widened. Without thinking, he glanced over at the bedroom. “He disappeared one night from the second floor of his house in Setagaya. His parents were in the living room on the first floor, and there were no signs of anyone leaving through the front door. None of his shoes were gone, and there was nothing in particular taken from his room. Only the window in his room was open. Him running away seemed too improbable, but as a kidnapping, it was weird, too. When they hadn’t found him after a week, it became an open criminal investigation. But he still didn’t turn up. The media labeled it kamikakushi because the circumstances were so strange.” Sasakura took a break from talking to gulp down his wine. Drinking the bloodred liquid like water, he drained his glass and poured another one. “The police suspected kidnapping, but there was never any demand for ransom or anything. His mother was frantic; his father was run ragged. Then, after a month—they found him.” He turned up in Kyoto, over five hours away. He was found lying unconscious in the road near Kurama, as if someone had just discarded him. “He wasn’t wearing shoes when they found him, but the soles of his feet were clean. So the police thought someone had transported him in a car and abandoned him there. Although, they didn’t get any leads on a suspicious vehicle or anything.” I’ve heard this story before, Naoya thought. It was a lot like Sayuki’s story. And—it was very similar to the story Takatsuki had told in his class, about the young man who had been moved from Kyoto to Asakusa. The story of Yasujirou, the man who was kidnapped by tengu. “There was one more thing. When they found him, Akira was bleeding from his back. Two huge strips of skin were missing. Like someone carved two long, narrow triangles from his shoulder blades down to his hip bones.” Details of his injuries were kept from the media. But laying eyes on those wounds had been a huge shock for his family. Their young son was scarred for life. “When he regained consciousness, he couldn’t remember anything from the time he was gone. But he was different after that. He was petrified of birds, and his memory improved massively… And the color of his eyes, sometimes it would change.” In the end, the police couldn’t find a single clue regarding what happened to Takatsuki. Of course, his family was happy to have their son returned to them safely. But not knowing what had happened to their son in the month he was missing seemed to wear on them greatly. People feared what they could not explain. On top of that, the son they got back was a little different than the one they had lost. They had no idea why his eyes would occasionally turn indigo, why his memory was so strong, why he would break down and faint when he saw a bird. “He had one relative who was a little strange. One day, that old hag said to Akira’s mother, ‘I’m certain Akira was carried away by the Kurama tengu. When he was about to become a tengu, they cut off his wings and returned him to the human world.’” “…Now that you mention it, Professor Takatsuki did say in class before that Kurama had a long history of tengu folklore.” Ordinarily, his mother probably would have dismissed those words as utter drivel. But at the time, she couldn’t understand her son’s changes, and she was mentally fatigued. She ended up believing it. Her own son was almost turned into a tengu. Tengu had wings. His fear of birds, the marks on his back—they were proof that he had almost become something inhuman. “Then, well… A lot happened, and he didn’t want to be at home anymore. He went to live with relatives overseas for a few years, then came back to Japan before university and started living on his own. Akira’s parents are rich, so they supported him quite a bit financially… Only financially, though.” Sasakura practically spat out the details of Takatsuki’s circumstances at the time. It reminded Naoya of his own parents, whose faces went hopelessly stiff whenever they looked at him, after the incident. Had Takatsuki’s parents looked at him that way, too? Or maybe they had just stopped looking at him altogether. …Had they told him that he creeped them out? Takatsuki was always smiling. Smiling and amiable. Naoya had thought, surely, he was someone who had grown up receiving love from those around him. He thought that was why Takatsuki was able to smile that brightly—and was kind to anyone and everyone. He had no idea what Takatsuki had been hiding behind that sunny face. Naoya had squeezed the bottle of ginger ale in his hands as he listened to Sasakura talk. He wished that Sasakura’s voice would warp. It was the first time he had ever wished for that. For something to be a lie. Even an exaggeration would be fine. As long as what Sasakura was saying wasn’t true. But the other man’s voice was mercilessly clear, and Naoya felt hopelessly saddened by it. Sasakura drained his glass before speaking again. “I don’t really care what happened to him while he was gone. He came back; that’s what matters. Whether he was turned into a tengu or abducted by aliens and experimented on, it’s irrelevant to me. But I guess his so-called family didn’t think that way. When he came back from abroad, Akira could have studied law or economics or medicine—whatever he liked. He was certainly smart enough. But he said he wanted to study folklore. He went from college to graduate school, and in no time, he became an associate professor. I think the reason he only wants to study urban legends and ghost stories and stuff like that is because he himself thinks what happened to him might be supernatural somehow. Although, I don’t especially think that it is. Basically every case, just like this one, has ended up turning out nothing but criminals. It’s dangerous. This isn’t the first time Akira’s gotten mixed up in a crime. But what scares me more…is the possibility that, someday, he’ll encounter something real.” Sasakura continued. “Crime is fine. I’m an officer, so I can do something about that. But if the monsters are real, I won’t be able to help.” “…I suppose the police don’t get involved in such cases.” “It’s not like we’re totally uninvolved… Just, it’s a different jurisdiction.” “Jurisdiction? Is there a department that specializes in supernatural cases?” “It’s not public knowledge, but yeah. The person who runs it is someone I really don’t want to be indebted to, though, so I don’t fraternize with ’em.” Sasakura frowned hard. He didn’t really get it, but Naoya thought whoever it was must be a bother. There was no way someone who was involved in those kinds of cases wouldn’t be troublesome. Naoya took a sip of the ginger ale—he had forgotten to drink it when he was squeezing the bottle tight—and found it had already gotten lukewarm. Maybe because of the temperature, it seemed like it was sweeter than before. “Um.” “What is it?” “…Would it be okay if I had some wine?” “Of course it wouldn’t; you’re underage… More importantly—” Suddenly, Sasakura tapped Naoya gently on the head. “Hey, what are you doing? Is this police brutality?” “Shut up, brat… If you were gonna cry, you shouldn’t have said you wanted to hear the story, dummy.” He rapped Naoya’s head again. “I’m not crying,” Naoya replied, sniffling. The next day, the news was already reporting about the incident at the abandoned house. The fleeing criminals were apprehended that very night, having been caught in a trap set by the police. The fact that they had been cultivating cannabis had already gotten out. The perpetrators apparently said they had been growing it “for their own personal use.” Takatsuki and Naoya weren’t mentioned in the news reports at all. Thankfully, neither was Sayuki’s case. It was better to avoid having something she couldn’t even remember being involved in being made into a circus by the media. It would just cause more damage. A few days after the event, Naoya paid a visit to Takatsuki’s office. When he walked in, Takatsuki looked over his shoulder and smiled softly, as if nothing had changed. “Hi there, Fukamachi… I’m sorry about the other night. Putting you in danger like that.” Naoya couldn’t think of what to say in response to Takatsuki’s terribly apologetic expression, so he muttered ineffective platitudes like “It’s fine” and “I don’t mind.” That day, Naoya had left Takatsuki’s apartment before the professor had woken up. He hadn’t known when Takatsuki would regain consciousness or how he should face him once he did. Seeing Naoya’s present demeanor, Takatsuki looked embarrassed. “…I see. KenKen told you, didn’t he? About me.” Apparently Sasakura hadn’t told Takatsuki that Naoya knew. Surmising the answer from Naoya’s behavior alone, Takatsuki smiled wryly. He gestured toward a chair, and Naoya sat in it as directed. As always, Takatsuki went to make them drinks. Sugary cocoa for himself, bitter coffee for Naoya. Naoya watched his back as he made the drinks. Then he asked, “Is the reason you study urban legends and ghost stories that you’re looking for cases like your own?” Takatsuki froze. Naoya looked at his unmoving form and kept talking. “Is that why you collect strange stories? Because you want to find out what happened to you back then?” “…Not knowing is scary.” Takatsuki turned around. Drinks in hand, he walked over to Naoya and held out the Great Buddha cup, saying, “Here you go.” He brought his own blue mug to his mouth, took a sip, and smiled. The scents of cocoa and coffee were mixing in the office air, slowly melting into the predominant smell of old books. “I don’t know if I was carried off by tengu, because I don’t remember anything. It’s possible I was actually just kidnapped by a common pervert who injected me with some weird drug to change my eye color and the contents of my mind, used me as a plaything, and after a while, peeled the skin off my back… If that’s the case, it’s possible that skin is somewhere out there still. After all, if it were me, I would definitely keep it safe.” Takatsuki’s eyes were half closed and vacant, as if he was enjoying the smell of his cocoa. His pink tongue trailed quickly over the rim of the mug, and he smiled. It was a dreadful, spine-chilling smile. “If that really is the case—if the skin from my back is being preserved by someone somewhere, I have no intention of ever letting that person get away with it. Someone keeping the skin they cut off my back—just imagining it makes my skin crawl.” Takatsuki said so with a smile and took another sip of cocoa. “Looking at what happened to me from one angle, I was spirited away. From a different angle, I was the victim of a crime… There are so many ghost stories and other tales in the world that are like that. You’ve already seen it, haven’t you? After spending time with me.” That was true. An apartment that might be haunted, girls cursed by needles, kamikakushi. All of it had been done by humans. Takatsuki put down his cup with a clunk, then propped up his chin with one hand. His currently dark-brown eyes were looking off into space. Naoya couldn’t tell what those eyes were seeing. It could have been a memory of the past, or he could have been looking at the spine of the book that was in his line of sight. “Often, behind the birth of strange stories, there are real-life incidents that are too gruesome to tell. People find comfort in adapting those unsavory incidents into legends and fables.” Things that were too painful in reality were bearable in fiction. They could even be enjoyed, if people thought of them as nothing more than stories with no bearing on their actual circumstances. That’s why the world was full of legends and fairy tales. Most people never turned their attention to the truth that was being concealed behind the story. But— “Folklore studies is a discipline in which the background of the birth of those legends and fables is investigated and researched. In other words, the field’s purpose is to find out the true events hidden in the fairy tales. That being the case, if I can solve cases like my own, I might be able to figure out what happened to me. And that means…I might be able to do the same for you.” Takatsuki continued. “My eyes, the scars on my back—your ears, too. We probably won’t be able to go back to how we were. At this point, even if we find the causes, nothing may change. That’s what Kenji says, at least. He’s told me so before, you know. But I think…knowing is better than not knowing. I would rather tear my eyes out than ignore the truth just to live.” Head still cradled in his hand, Takatsuki’s gaze suddenly lit on Naoya. “What about you, Fukamachi?” “Me?” “Don’t you want to know what really happened to you that night when you were ten?” The truth of that festival of the dead. Every year for four years after that, until his grandmother passed away, Naoya went to her house. But he was never able to go to that midnight festival again, and neither his grandmother nor his relatives could tell him anything about it when he asked. He suspected his grandmother probably knew something, but when questioned, she only replied, “It’s better if you don’t know,” and refused to say more. Naoya had thought he would never learn the truth. But maybe… Maybe with this person—with Takatsuki—they could figure it out. “In order to learn everything I can, I’m going to continue my research. And if possible, I would like you to help me with it. I won’t force you. You already know it can be dangerous. Just look at what happened the other day. But…I would be happy if you were here. Perhaps there are things that we, as people who may have actually experienced the supernatural, will be able to understand.” Ah, Naoya thought. Maybe what Ruiko had said was right. Maybe Takatsuki was a fallen angel. Because the invitation to join him was like being tempted by the devil. Telling Naoya, who thought he would be alone forever, that there was someone just like him right here? How could he resist that? Naoya put his cup on the table. He glanced at the multicolored Great Buddha, then looked back at Takatsuki. “Um. I think I’ll bring my own cup next time, if that’s okay.” “Huh?” “I want to try drinking this coffee in a cup that doesn’t have the Great Buddha on it.” Takatsuki took his elbow off the table. He leaned slightly toward Naoya, staring intently at his face. Huh, Naoya thought, seeing that expression, he was more anxious than I expected. Even though he had acted all cool when he said he wouldn’t force it. “I…want to know, too. About what happened to me—and to you. All of it.” “…F-Fukamachi!” Takatsuki’s eyes lit up. Ah, there it is. That golden retriever smile. An affable, friendly smile that seemed to say, “I’m so happy I can barely stand it.” “Then, Fukamachi… Um, well, I look forward to working with you more in the future!” Takatsuki stuck out his right hand. Naoya wondered if the habit of invading people’s personal space and immediately asking for a handshake was one he picked up while living abroad. It wasn’t really customary in Japan to shake hands, he thought, taking Takatsuki’s hand with his own anyway. “Yes… Thank you very much.” Naoya contemplated which cup he should bring in as his personal one. In the end, he decided to go with one he had at home. He had bought it ages ago, because it had a picture of a dog on it. A dog that reminded him of Leo, his old golden retriever.