∗∗∗
AFTER wrapping up the morning’s work as usual, Akari wolfed down her lunch and then headed to the company reference room to check something.
Even after donating half her sandwiches to the beast, she still had enough to feel satisfied. Now she could spend the rest of the lunch hour focused on finding out whatever she could about that gramophone clock the company sold.
She flipped through various files and ledgers under the dim glow of the electric light. Usually, people weren’t allowed in here, but Akari had been out for tea with the custodian several times and she’d gotten them to let her in.
“It looks like every fancy residence in the city has one of our gramophone clocks.”
Akari was going through Sumimata Corporation’s financial reports and invoices for that particular product. Incidentally, she’d also been asking the other girls at the company who worked directly with the sale of that clock for info. As she scanned the list of customers, she frowned.
From her research, Akari was rapidly coming to realize that the growth of Sumimata Corporation was directly connected to the successful sale of the gramophone grandfather clock.
Since the clocks were built to order, they were very exclusive. And, yes, here was the invoice for the residence she’d visited on her yokai mission. In fact, she was able to cross-reference several of the customer invoices with the names of homes where yokai attacks had recently occurred, as reported in the newspapers.
“It’s too much to call it a coincidence…”
While the clocks were indeed an exclusive item, the city was crammed with rich folk. There must have been hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of them in circulation.
“But even if they’re the cause of it, I still have no idea why.”
Apart from the fact that they played music, the clocks themselves were altogether unremarkable. Akari wasn’t even sure if there was any connection between the music and the yokai’s manifestation. Perhaps it was some other catalyst entirely.
Tomohito and Kansuke had both mentioned finding the sound strange, so she’d thought the answer must lay with the music the clocks played. But then again, they might have been just imagining it.
Next, she decided to look through the clock manual. There was a list of the available records for selection.
“There are even musical pieces created specifically for the clocks… Wait…what in the world…?”
One of the singers’ names caught her eye. It was Mitsuko Maruyama. The sounds coming from the clock had been sort of distorted, so Akari hadn’t noticed, but the composition must have been a person singing.
“So this is the new project Mitsuko’s been working on…”
She was sure Mitsuko had a lovely singing voice. It would sound quite scratchy and distorted on a record, though. Perhaps the song playing in that Nue mansion had been Mitsuko’s recording?
Singers and actors—performers in general, really—tended to be looked down upon by the general population. Akari thought those skills were actually impressive, but perhaps this was why Mitsuko had avoided talking about her work project: to avoid that stigma.
How strange that someone she knew was involved in all this. She thought back to their encounter that morning, the forlorn look in Mitsuko’s eye. She hadn’t seemed very happy.
Maybe she should invite Mitsuko out for lunch and find out what was wrong. If she could get Mitsuko to open up about it, perhaps she’d start venting and drop some useful info.
“But for now, I should ask Munakata if there have been cases of Kotogami responding to voices on record players.”
Akari left the reference room, a plan beginning to take shape in her mind.
✦ ✦ ✦
∗∗∗
FIGHTING back periodic yawns, she made it through the afternoon’s work. She managed not to make any mistakes, but she knew her work speed was way down.
“Ugh, I’m so sleepy. Have to hold out until the end of the workday…”
Recently, Akari hadn’t been getting enough sleep.
Tomohito and the others hadn’t seemed to notice, but Akari knew she’d have to do something about it soon. She’d been having bad dreams, but she could never remember them when she woke up.
All she knew was that the dreams had started after the Nue incident.
“I just have to push through until bedtime. Or at least until I can make it home.”
What’s wrong with me? Akari wondered, just as she heard the voices of several employees talking behind her.
“I wonder what’s going to happen with that whole Raiju business.”
“We can’t rely on the Narrators. I want to believe things won’t end up like they did twelve years ago, but…”
Akari felt her chest go cold.
She knew it would be better not to turn around, but her body did so automatically anyway. She saw two male employees engaged in casual conversation.
“Twelve years ago was when that Aragami yokai disaster struck that village, right?”
“That’s it—that’s the one! It was in the papers. The whole village was annihilated. It was the worst disaster in the entire history of the Meijo period, wasn’t it?”
“Ah yes, that was very shocking.”
The men were gossiping away in their loud voices like they did every day. But today, Akari couldn’t seem to block them out.
“Those Narrators fumbled the whole thing badly. They couldn’t even take on one yokai, and as a result, the list of casualties was huge. I heard that incident was the reason the book-burning activists started their whole crusade.”
“Yokai are a huge problem to begin with. It’s a different world now, a civilized one. And yet they keep showing up and going on rampages. That village would have been saved if only they’d managed to seal the beast away properly.”
A slamming sound made Akari almost jump out of her skin.
A second later, she realized her palm was stinging. Oh…that sound. It was her hand, striking the desk. She blinked in surprise, then turned on the stunned-looking men with ferocity.
“Being sealed in a Kotogatari is, to a Kotogami, like being imprisoned! So watch what you’re saying!”
“What’s your problem?”
Akari didn’t even know what she was saying. She was in a fog from sleep deprivation. Nevertheless, she couldn’t hold back the angry words bubbling up from within her.
“Who made it this way?! Who decided that a Kotogami’s happiness must lie in having their Kotogatari read?! What kind of existence is that?!”
Her words still ringing in the air, Akari took a deep breath and felt her thoughts begin to clear.
Everyone was staring at her. The whole office, not just the gossipy men. Darn it, Akari thought. But nobody said anything back to her.
All she could do was apologize.
“I’m sorry. That was rude of me. Forget I spoke, please.”
“Uh, all right…”
As the men stood staring at her, dumbfounded, Akari scrambled to gather her things and leave.
Nausea was rising up inside her. She clutched at her collar, pulling it to give herself more room to breathe. If she ripped it, so be it.
Pale-faced and clammy, Akari didn’t notice Mitsuko, who had returned to the office at some point. The other woman was staring.
Akari wanted to go home. Go home and eat something good. She felt sick, but she knew that would make her feel so much better. And she wanted to take a bath. How lovely to be able to take a bath whenever she liked, without having to go to the public bathhouse…
“Miss Mitsukuri, a word, please.”
Someone called out to her as she shuffled quickly down the hallway.
Reluctantly, she turned. She couldn’t very well ignore someone from General Affairs.
The boxy-shouldered man walked up to Akari and casually handed her a document.
“Maybe you don’t need it anymore, but it’s available now if you do. I just came to inform you.”
Oh. So they’d finally gotten it taken care of, it seemed. Akari blinked, feeling numb.