It sounded like it drastically changed the personality of anyone suffering from it, which had to be hard on their families.
“However, after my father passed away, my brother became head of the family. We wanted him to settle down as soon as possible, so it was decided to bring a distant relation into our family as his wife.”
As Rinko spoke, she took a photo out of the handbag on her lap.
It seemed to have been taken at a traditional Shinto wedding ceremony. A woman was wearing a white trailing robe and bridal headdress. The bride’s face was tense, her skin pale, but her face looked innocent and youthful. A carefree smile would have looked very good on her.
She was young, though. Way too young.
“This is Suzuha Shidou. Kurahashi, before she was married. She was sixteen when this photo was taken.”
“S-sixteen?!”
That was criminal. At that age, she might never even have fallen in love before.
“My sister-in-law was still young, and caring for my brother proved to be a heavier burden than we had anticipated. Gradually she grew more and more unstable until, two years ago, she thrust her face into a charcoal brazier and severely burned herself. After that didn’t kill her, she cut her throat with a pair of fabric shears.”
Horrific was the only word for it.
“It was a terrible death. Her eyes were clouded white, and her face was as black as coal. Even more bizarre, she’d been wearing a traditional haori coat over her shoulders.”
“Was it a garment she had a particular attachment to?”
“I couldn’t say. It was a present from my brother, who has a fondness for antiques. I’m told it was over one hundred years old. Normally, she kept it displayed on a kimono rack.”
“So Suzuha must have taken it off the rack and put it on before her suicide attempt.”
“No, after.”
“After?”
“In her deranged state, my sister-in-law pushed her face into the brazier, and my mother, who had been caring for her, went to call the doctor. It appears that Suzuha took the haori off the rack during the time my mother was out of the room. She put it on, took the shears from the sewing box, and cut her own throat.”
“…I see. That makes sense.”
Catching himself just before he visualized the girl’s death, Seiji shivered. Seeing a thing like that would give you nightmares for the rest of your life.
“My brother spiraled as well, so we sent him far away to convalesce with a relative who ran a clinic. You see, according to the doctor, my sister-in-law had been pregnant when she died.”
“That’s—”
It was too much for one person to handle. Even Suzuha might not have been able to rest in peace with so many lingering regrets.
“So Suzuha’s vengeful ghost manifested as a nue?”
“Yes. Ever since it happened, we’ve been hearing the cries of a nue coming from the little cottage away from the main house where she killed herself. It shrieks like someone on the verge of death.”
Seiji’s blood turned to ice in his veins. He wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to handle something like that.
“When exactly did the nue first begin to cry?”
“Three months ago.”
“My, my. Didn’t Suzuha die two years previously?”
“Just after my sister-in-law’s death, we had the head priest of a local shrine perform an exorcism where she died. He said that if we kept the cottage closed up and allowed no one to enter, there would be no curse. And for a while, it seemed to work.”
“So something happened?”
Rinko bit her lip. The set of her brow grew sterner, and her irritation began to show through. “Three months ago, my brother returned from the clinic where he’d been recovering. He ignored all our attempts to stop him and threw open the doors of the cottage. The nue has been crying ever since.”
“That’s—”
No wonder she was mad.
“Couldn’t you ask the same priest to perform a second exorcism?”
“He suffered a stroke last year. We’re told he can’t even speak anymore.”
It was just one thing after another.
“For the next three months, unfortunate events that seemed to be the work of a curse followed us everywhere we went.”
“What sort of events?”
“One of our subsidiary companies went bankrupt at the end of last year. Then, at the beginning of this year, my mother fainted from heart palpitations and was hospitalized. Thankfully, it was only temporary, and she was promptly discharged, but they suspect chronic heart failure. And this past month, we were forced to suffer the indignity of a broken engagement.”
Whose engagement? Seiji almost asked but quickly stopped himself. He’d seen the self-conscious smile on Rinko’s lips. True, a string of so many disasters would make you want to believe in curses.
“Still, how did you know it was a nue?”
“Pardon?”
“You haven’t seen it, have you? Assuming you know what you’re dealing with based on nothing more than its cry seems rather reckless.”
It was a reasonable question, but Rinko just smiled derisively. “The nue’s cry resembles a woman’s scream, does it not?”
What was that?
Seiji shivered, feeling a chill run down his spine. He didn’t know why, but just for a moment, he’d felt as if the young woman in front of him was some shadowy monster.
“When would you like us to call on you, then?”
“Tomorrow, if possible.”
“My, that’s quite sudden.” Unusually for him, Shiroshi looked surprised.
From what Rinko told them, her family lived in a mountain village in Gunma Prefecture, two hours away by car. It would be a bit of a journey.
“I apologize for my somewhat unreasonable request. If you’d like, I’ll send a car for you.”
“No, that won’t be necessary. I have a talented chauffeur.”
“Oh… I see.”
Good guess, but no. Rinko was eyeing Seiji suspiciously, but their actual chauffeur would be Beniko.
“Please take care of that nue for us. It’s such a nuisance.”
With that final icy remark, Rinko rose from her chair, and then—
Still clad in her ink-black kimono, she transformed into an enormous snake as thick as a log. It began slithering across the carpet, white scales shining.
“Yeek!”
Yanking his feet up onto his chair, Seiji hugged his knees and squeezed his eyes shut. He’d had a huge fear of snakes ever since he witnessed feeding time with Mack the snake on a trip to the zoo in grade school.
A hand patted him on the head. “She’s gone.”
When he opened his eyes, Shiroshi was smiling right at him. Rinko was nowhere to be seen.
Soon after…
“A snake, hmm?” When Seiji told him what he’d seen, Shiroshi folded his arms, looking rather surprised.
“Is that weird?”
“No, not at all. There are many yokai related to snakes: jatai and nureonna, just to name a few. There’s also the famous story of The Legend of Doujouji, in which the heroine, Kiyohime, transforms into a snake. However, considered in combination with the nue, there is one other possibility.”
He thought hard for a little while.
“Well, sometimes you just have to stick your hand into the viper’s nest,” he said finally.
Unfolding his arms, Shiroshi gave a mischievous smile.
“Let’s go slay the nue, shall we?”