It was too far away for her to read any of the words, but she could see that the pages were crammed full of random words that seemed like gibberish. And it was all typewritten.
“The men in charge call them ‘Pseudogatari’. They contain warped, sealed spirits that people can easily control. The warping process itself tends to render them unusable, but we can get around that by playing a specific sound to trigger them. Anyone can use them, not just Narrators. Our company plans to mass-produce and market them, together with special sound machines.”
“They’re going to…sell spirits?!”
Akari was floored. This was monstrous, beyond anything she could ever have suspected. Mitsuko grinned and flapped the book in the air.
“No, no, not real Kotogami spirits. It’s just for sealing up random ghosts that are knocking around. And they tend to break down with repeated use. But it’s fine, they’re going to market them as disposable products. Management said they’re going to advertise them as anti-Kotogami weapons for everyday civilian use.”
Akari felt the hairs on her arms stand up as Mitsuko shrugged.
Warping and trapping spirits was abominable, but Mitsuko didn’t seem to feel the slightest pang of guilt about it. She seemed detached, uninterested. Had she no respect for the spirit world?
After Westernization had come to the Yamato Empire, Kotogatari and the Narrators became commonplace in society. It wasn’t so far-fetched to believe that humans would eventually try to use them for their own profits. But Akari was gut-wrenchingly horrified all the same.
After all, her own company was involved. Which meant that, however unwittingly, she was involved.
For some reason, Mitsuko was now blushing.
“Apparently, I have the kind of voice that resonates with spirits. So they had me sing a recitation recording for them. It was embarrassing, but I did it. They also put me in charge of that Raiju. Oh, I’ve been given ever so many important company tasks! They had me do something called a demonstration.
“I would go to rival company offices and cause havoc with the Raiju Pseudogatari in hand, just to show what it could do, you know? Like, Take that, have some thunderbolts, courtesy of Sumimata Corp! Oh, and at the same time it really killed public favor toward the Narrators. That was a bonus.”
“Our company is completely insane, isn’t it?”
Akari found the words tumbling out as she trembled with fear. But Mitsuko only nodded gravely.
“I think so too. They’re so lax. They spilled all their upcoming plans to me, a woman. And now they’re going to have an employee killed, just because the Narrators’ Association has started to suspect what we’re up to.”
Akari’s back stiffened. Kill an employee… Mitsuko was talking about her.
But she kept on chatting away, seeming oblivious to Akari’s suddenly deepening trepidation.
“They were all saying that it was worth it for one person to die, as long as they got to enjoy messing with those rival companies. They told me to get rid of you, since we know you’ve got links to the Narrators. That won’t do, you know, Miss Akari. Our company simply hates the Narrators and the Kotogami.”
“Mitsuko…you don’t know what you’re saying. You can’t commit murder just for the sake of the company. It’s deranged…”
“I know, Miss Akari, I know. They’re just using me like a pawn. But I can’t stop it, not anymore.”
Akari had tried to be brave, to call Mitsuko’s bluff. But now the other woman’s expression had gone blank again.
“When I first learned to use the Pseudogatari, I felt good. That’s one better than Akari could do, I thought. But once I finally had that achievement under my belt, I just had to find out that you’d gone one further than me again. You became the custodian of a Narrator office branch. Wow. You steal every one of my accomplishments out from under me, don’t you? I was so scared…so envious. I didn’t know what to do…”
Suddenly, the gongs of the clocks began sounding off, announcing the time. Bong, bong.
Then an unsettling melody began to play. Akari recognized it as the song from her Nue retrieval mission.
The music was clear, and easy to identify. She could make out Mitsuko’s singing voice now, through the gentle distortion of the gramophone’s speaker. It was sweet and somewhat beautiful, while at the same time chilling Akari to the core.
This was the sound trigger for the Pseudogatari Mitsuko was clutching in her hands.
The Raiju began to buck upon the floor.
It was writhing as if in pain, and streaks of lightning were crackling all over its body as it began to grow bigger and bigger.
Within seconds, it had assumed the fearsome hulking form Akari recalled from the day her lodgings burned.
Mitsuko’s face was still twisted with jealousy, but now her lips began to curl into a smile, even as her eyes filled with tears.
“So, before you can take everything from me…I’m going to make you disappear.”
“GRAWWWR!”
Akari turned her back on the roaring beast and started to run.
She had to act quickly, before the monstrous Raiju could get her.
If it hit her with one of its electricity bolts, Akari would be burned to a crisp.
“Now, Raiju! Kill that woman!”
Akari could hear Mitsuko screaming orders amid the sizzling of the lightning.
Akari had been right all along to be suspicious of the gramophone clocks, but she felt no satisfaction. She was going to lose her life as a result.
But Akari couldn’t give up. She had to run. She wasn’t dead yet. And she couldn’t bear the thought of dying in a place like this.
This crime went throughout the entire company, though. Even if she could make it outside, she might run into the company men. Or they might already be waiting outside to block her escape.
Chewing her lip, Akari felt the air begin to crackle against her skin.
It felt like static electricity, only stronger…
The Raiju leaped and landed in front of Akari, blocking her path to the exit.
It moved with the speed of light. Akari felt as if it had all happened within the blink of an eye.
Its black eyes were clouded, devoid of sentience. In its beast mind, Akari was nothing more than prey.
She knew it wouldn’t listen to reason. But she had to do something! She had to think! The beast had her trapped!
“Finish her, Raiju!”
Mitsuko shrieked her final command, and the Raiju roared, flashes of purple lightning rising from its massive body.
I’m done for, Akari thought, her mind oddly clear.
Thinking about it now, she wished she’d decided to stay on as the Bookhouse custodian. But she knew she would never have quit her day job. So in the end, she’d have met the same fate anyway.
She wished she could help the Raiju, bring it back to its proper form. But her words wouldn’t reach it now.
Akari covered her eyes with her hands, closing them.
Perhaps she’d been living on borrowed time since the first Raiju attack. Perhaps this was her destiny.
She felt the heat of the lightning. But the attack she expected never came.