It was looking at Yoshiki.
Math symbols didn’t have eyes, and yet, it was clearly staring at Yoshiki.
Among the trees, whose trunks glistened in the darkness as if covered in slime, the less-than sign writhed as if it were breathing. Then it swayed back and forth as if being swung like a billhook or machete, and something white trailed behind it.
That was when Yoshiki noticed on its end was a human face—an old woman’s face. As soon as he realized that the thing trailing behind it was the old woman’s white hair, he rushed to avert his eyes.
He could sense that it was getting closer to him as it wriggled its body, constantly swaying back and forth.
It made sounds, too. He could hear it violently swinging its neck along with the sound of the old woman’s white hair fluttering as it trailed behind each swing.
Slowly but surely, the noises grew louder.
Yoshiki remembered reading about something similar online a while ago—an urban legend about the Kunekune, a white, wriggling figure that appeared in rice fields and by rivers.
Seeing it would make you go insane.
“Yoshiki.”
Hikaru’s voice called out to him. When Yoshiki looked up, Hikaru was staring at him calmly, as if to tell him that what he was experiencing was nothing to worry about.
“Ah, dang. Ya saw it, huh? Can’t have ya doin’ that. It’s comin’ for ya now.”
Hikaru then moved his attention to a spot behind Yoshiki, who heard something swinging right next to his ear.
“Come here.”
Hikaru’s tone was gentle, but there was an odd forcefulness to it, like someone grabbing you by the collar.
In the moment that followed, there was a dry, popping sound, and Hikaru fell backward. Bright red droplets flew from the tip of his nose, grazing Yoshiki’s bangs. The entire scene unfolded so slowly that Yoshiki could only stand with his mouth agape, unable to move.
“What?! What was that sound?!” Asako screamed. She grabbed Yuuki by the arm and ran as fast as she could toward the exit of the forest path.
“Asa?! Huh? Wait! Where are ya going?” Yuuki repeatedly called out Asako’s name, and her voice quickly faded into the distance.
After coming to his senses, Yoshiki rushed over to Hikaru.
“Hey! C’mon! Hikaru!”
As Yoshiki lifted Hikaru, a stream of bright red blood ran from Hikaru’s nose down toward his lips. Hikaru roughly wiped it away with his palm.
“You all right?!” Yoshiki shouted.
“Ah. Just a nosebleed. Ya got a tissue on ya?” Hikaru asked, sniffing blood back into his nose.
He looked up at Yoshiki, who shook his head. Hikaru then got to his feet and held his nose, seemingly unbothered.
“What’d ya do…?” asked Yoshiki. “That was kinda…weird…”
“That thing tried to stick to ya, so I smashed it up and put it inside me.” Hikaru snorted and calmly began walking. “Ahh, I guess I sucked it up? Or slurped it up? Somethin’ like that… But it put up a fight and made my nose bleed.”
With blood smeared on his face and cheeks stained a vivid pink, Hikaru stared at Yoshiki, who was still frozen in place.
“Anyway, Yoshiki… Don’t look at anythin’ but me,” he said with a serious, pleading look in his eyes. “They follow you when you look at ’em. Those things’re lonely, y’know? The only thing you gotta look at is me. And the only thing that should stick to ya is me.”
Yoshiki was unresponsive, but Hikaru tugged roughly at the sleeve of his shirt, pulling him forward.
“Ya ain’t gonna get it! Just don’t look. If ya do look at somethin’, tell me.”
After Hikaru kept tugging at his sleeve, Yoshiki finally managed to say, “All right! Stop stretchin’ out my shirt.” His voice was hoarse, and he could barely speak.
“Oh! They’re back!” said Asako.
When the boys exited the forest path, they found Asako and Yuuki waiting in the sunlight.
“Sorry for runnin’ off and leavin’ you two behind—” Asako started to apologize, but when she saw Hikaru’s face, her eyes opened wide with shock. “Huh?! Yer bleedin’!”
“I just tripped along the way,” Hikaru answered nonchalantly while making a peace sign with his blood-stained fingers. “I heard some kinda loud pop, though…”
“Maybe a scare cannon misfired? But nothin’ really happened.”
Asako glanced back toward the forest path, scrunching her face up into a look of suspicion before dropping her shoulders with an, “Is that so…?”
“Yer not hurt, either, Yoshiki?” Yuuki asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Yoshiki told her he was fine, and as he answered, he felt Hikaru’s gaze on him, burning the back of his neck with an intensity much greater than that of the light from the setting sun.