Chapter 75

Compared to that, a little chat in the park was child’s play. Assuming it really was nothing more than a chat. I had my doubts, considering she was luring me out to the park for this. Something a little awkward to bring up at home, maybe? Now that I thought about it, my sister had been acting a bit depressed lately. Usually, she was super-upbeat all the time. The “super” adjective was needed in order to fully encompass how much energy she had. Contrast that with how she was acting now, and it seemed fair to assume that the topic she wanted to discuss had something to do with her recent funk. She was in high school now, for one, and she mentioned that the classes were getting a lot harder for her. Maybe it’s that…but then again, why’d she want to talk to me about that? That’s more of a Dad topic. So some kind of nonschool issue, then. For example… “…Love, or something?” Saying it out loud to myself instantly filled me with shame. No way. Not my sister, of all people. She was a walking encyclopedia of boys’ comics and superhero TV series. She didn’t have time for any of that romance-type stuff. It was crazy to even consider the thought. Totally crazy… “Yeah. Crazy!” I jumped off the swings, the chains clanging in agreement with me. This was my sister’s business, of course. She had every right to do what she wanted with her own life. I knew that. But what if she’s really fallen in love with somebody? What if it’s just some random chump off the street? What then? …It’d be a bloodbath. The entire family would probably strip the poor guy’s bones clean in a second. Once Dad found out, in particular, it’d be hell on earth for the dude. He’d wipe the guy completely out of existence, as if he’d never been born. And I’d help, of course. But. One big but. If that actually happened to my sister, and she wanted to talk about it with somebody, who would she turn to? Seto would be too embarrassed to help out at all, and Kido would provide even less of a useful contribution. Assuming Dad was out of the question, there was only one family member left. “Me…? Ugh…Pressure’s on.” It was all guesswork on my part, but it seemed ominously plausible. The way I heard it, once you’re high-school age, it’s perfectly normal to have at least one or two boyfriends. …Wait, “one or two”? Over my dead body, she will! But there was nothing I could do to deny the possibility. It wouldn’t be strange at all to have her bound up to me and say, “Ooh, I think I found someone!” And she did mention that she “made a really good friend” earlier. They went to last year’s school festival together, she reported, and they played some kind of wacky target-shooting game. They were even in the same homeroom together. So, connect the dots, and… “…Him?” It was all guesses and imaginings, but my eyes were honed like a hunter’s gun sight against my virtual enemy. I dare him to lay a hand on my sister. Because if he ever does… “Heyyyy, sorry I’m late!” My sister bellowed her presence as she ran into the park, wearing her usual winter school uniform topped with a scarf around her neck. I’m not sure when the transition took place, but she couldn’t have looked more like a teenage girl in her prime if she tried. I tucked my theories into a drawer in my mind. “Hey, Sis, what’s up? You didn’t have to be in that big of a hurry.” “Oh, no, I didn’t want to keep you waiting, so…” She giggled, a little shyly. That innocence of hers was unchanged from the past, but once she reached high school, she started maturing at breathtaking speed. Maybe I was a little biased, but I didn’t think there were many girls out there as nice as she was. “But, hey, sorry to make you come out here outta nowhere!” “Oh, it’s fine. Not like you’ve ever given me a lot of notice before now. So, what’s up?” “Well, um…” Ayano seemed to have trouble getting started. I silently waited for her to continue, but she doggedly refused to open her mouth until I caved. “What is it?” “No, I mean, it’s kind of hard to say, you know? Like, I don’t know where to begin.” She tried her best to cover her emotions. But I could tell she was reluctant to even be here with me. The presumptions I made in my mind earlier began bubbling back to the surface. “Well…What? Is it that serious, or…?” Was it really about a guy after all? Just when it began to seriously disturb me, my sister, finally summoning up enough resolve, parted her lips. “…No, uh…You know. It’s about why Mom died.” “Bwuhh?” I failed to provide a coherent reply. This was a totally different direction than what I was prepared for. Ayano turned her eyes downward. “I mean, they said Mom died in landslide, right?” Ayaka—my new mother—worked as an archaeologist, mostly conducting her research in the field of folklore. Thanks to the demands of this unusual career, she was never at home all that much, usually flying off to this or that field site. On that fateful day, too, she was out on location with my father. Or so they told us. “Yeah. I heard about that, too. They were doing some kind of field research, right?” “Yeah. And I know that’s true, but…Hey, you wanna sit down somewhere? These shoes are still pinching me a little.” Ayano tapped the edge of one of her loafers against the ground. I followed her to a nearby bench. “But I got this…” Once we were both seated, she took a notebook out of her schoolbag. It wasn’t old, but heavy use had left it tattered around the edges. The front cover was neatly labeled with the title MONSTER INVESTIGATION RECORDS. “‘Monster’? What’s that about? …Is this Mom’s? Where’d you find something like…?” I reached out to take it. My sister kept it away from me. “Whoa! What’re you…What, I’m not allowed to read it?” “W-wait a minute! I’m sorry, but…” She held the notebook against her body. Taking a more careful look, I noticed she was shaking, tears just beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. This was absolutely not normal behavior for her. “Look, what’s wrong with you?! Are you feeling okay…?” “Nnh, sorry,” she weakly bubbled as I rubbed her back. “It’s not that. It’s just…I’m kinda scared.” All these unnerving things she was saying began to throw my mind into chaos. What kind of horrifying things could be written in there, anyway? If it was about a “monster,” it had to be something pretty freaky. My sister took two or three deep breaths to compose herself. “I’m sorry. I’m probably freaking you out right now. I wanted you to read this, Shuuya, but…before you do, can we talk a little bit?” She stared right into my eyes as she asked. From them I could feel an intensity, a sense of resolve, that was never there usually. “Well, sure. Anything you want, just let me know.” “Thanks,” she said, her face a little saddened. “Shuuya, do you remember when we used to pretend we were a bunch of superheroes with secret identities?” “Sure. We’d put on hoodies and pretend to fly around and stuff. We called ourselves…” “… The Mekakushi-dan.” Ayano came up with it before I did. The name brought back memories. Whenever we were together, that’s what we did—team up, form the Mekakushi-dan in our imaginations, and save the town from evil. “These ‘eye powers’…That was a secret shared just between the four of us. We had to hide them away from the world…so we were the Mekakushi-dan.” She paused, rolling her eyes a little. “…Kind of a silly name, looking back on it, huh?” Probably, yeah. I could come up with something a lot cooler sounding now. Still, I liked that name. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but in a way, that was my sister taking our eyes—these things that people feared, treating them as taboos to be shunned—and hiding them from the public for me. That was what the group was for. She declared herself the leader, got us all hoodies to make it easier to hide our “eyes,” and kept us smiling the whole time through. That was our sister. But why’s she bringing that up now? I still had trouble sensing where this conversation was going. “Why’re you talking about that again? Does that have something to do with what you wanted to ask me?” “…Yeah.” Ayano took another deep breath, then slowly began to speak again. “Mom, you know…I think she knew about all of those ‘eye powers’ from the very start. She knew how much grief they caused everyone, too.” “What?! No way! I know I hid mine, at least! I had to do whatever it took to keep from getting kicked out of here…!” “I know. I know, Shuuya. But I had no idea…No idea that Mom was trying to save you all…from those ‘snake powers’…” My sister began crying. Small droplets formed on the dry ground. She didn’t try to wipe them off, clutching the notebook tightly against her chest as she let out a sob. “This is getting really bad…I don’t know what to do…but I think it might kill all of us…!” I was powerless. Unable to do anything for my sister as she broke down into uncontrollable sobbing. Unable even to understand the reality that was suddenly thrust before me. In fact, I really knew nothing. Nothing about the sad creatures this notebook called “monsters.” Nothing about the “curse” we carried within us. And nothing about my father, either…