#yakumo saitou

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Shinrei Tantei Yakumo Another Files - The Dead’s Wish - file 03

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo novel translation

Another Files - The Dead’s Wish

( file 01 | file 02 ) file 03 - the spirit's wish

- 1

- With full concentration, Sakamoto Eiji stared intently at his editing work across the computer screen.

He was in the movie circle’s room at the clubroom building. It had been a tradition of the movie circle Eiji was in to showcase the film they made in the campus festival.

This time, Eiji as a fourth year student had been appointed as the director and was producing a horror film. The story told of a group of men and women—four people in total—who had gone to an abandoned hospital for a test of courage and had accidentally encountered something not of this world. It had been filmed through a camera held by one of the cast members to give the composition a documentary feel.

Although some had mockingly pointed out that similar works had existed before, Eiji didn’t think that was the case. This was his own original work. He too acknowledged that there had been films with a similar format. However, Eiji hadn’t come up with his idea from watching those. Hence, those people had no reason to mock or complain about it. Besides, Eiji felt very confident about his work this time.

He hadn’t secured a job and would likely end up unemployed once he graduated from the university. His friends would have been panicking in such a situation, but Eiji was different. He was confident that his work would win if showcased at the student film festival. If that were the case, surely film companies wouldn’t turn their backs on Eiji. He would be entrusted to direct a major film and his name would rise to fame.

Afterwards, it wouldn’t be so bad if he were to get caught in a romantic encounter with a popular actress. As Eiji was smiling to himself, his junior, Daichi, who was assisting his editing said, “Feels like something strange got caught on camera just now.”

Daichi was a third year student, but he hadn’t joined the movie circle right as he entered the university. He had only become a member roughly half a year prior. Apparently he had been aiming for film-related jobs, so he wanted to obtain some kind of award or achievement in the movie circle.

No new students had joined the circle this year, so Daichi became the target of being ordered around. “What something?” Eiji asked back as he glanced behind at Daichi.

“I think I saw some kind of noise...” “It’s just your imagination.”

A mere dogsbody like you shouldn’t talk so much, Eiji swore in silence before resuming his editing. The monitor flashed a scene of four people—the men and women as they arrived at the hospital—walking as they gleefully conversed with one another. 

Even so, only three people had been captured by the camera. The other person had been holding the camera to record his friends. A warm scene unfitting for a horror film, but this would only add to the richness of the film.

It would help intensify the terrors that they were about to experience. Ssshhh.

Noise suddenly appeared on the monitor. Eiji rewound the video slightly to examine the scene once again.

A noise was indeed present. “What is this?”

Clicking his tongue, Eiji momentarily paused the video. The footage was now unusable because of this noise. He had no choice but to do a retake. But if he were to do that now, the film wouldn’t make it in time for the campus festival.

“So there was noise after all,” said Daichi arrogantly. “You weren’t talking about this scene earlier, though?”

“Well, that’s true...” ”Geez.”

Eiji grew annoyed, but a brilliant idea suddenly appeared in his mind. He didn’t have to retake the scene. Simply treat this noise as intentional. Pretend that the camera hadn’t functioned properly due to a spiritual presence.

“This isn’t so bad,” said Eiji. Daichi tilted his head dumbfoundedly. “What isn’t?”

“So, it’s as if we purposely added the noise to add to the film’s atmosphere,” Eiji explained. The presence of the noise would make the film more real, adding to its terrifying feel. He could add more noise into other scenes as well.

Who would’ve thought he could come up with something like this. He really was a genius after all. Yet after hearing his explanation, Daichi still didn’t fully understand and his dumbfounded look remained.

That was just the person he was. After all, he had joined the circle solely to get achievements. He couldn’t see the potential like Eiji could. If people like him grew in numbers, perhaps the term Yutori Seidai[1] would be used more commonly.

Eiji gave up elaborating any further and went back to editing. However, as he watched the subsequent footage, Eiji couldn’t believe his eyes.

His monitor became pitch black, before repeatedly playing a scene he didn’t remember shooting. It wasn’t shot at a hospital either, but instead showed a railway crossing that seemed to be one near the campus.

“W-what is this…?” said Eiji unknowingly. “I wonder what...” asked Daichi, tilting his head.

“I don’t recall shooting any footage like this. What’s the scene after this?” urged Eiji. “E-even if you ask me, I don’t know,” said Daichi fearfully.

Had someone shot this footage and overwritten his own? What a horrible joke. All his hard work had turned to dust. “Hey, do something!” Eiji yelled, when the lights suddenly went out.

“What? What happened?” Even the computer monitor was shut off. Perhaps the fuse had gone out.

“Daichi, go check it out.” What awful timing at a crucial time like this. How incredibly annoying.

“Y-yes,” answered Daichi before tripping on something with an ‘ouch’ as he walked away. Amidst the darkness, the phone on the table began to vibrate from an incoming call.

The screen displayed ‘restricted’. Although suspicious, Eiji answered the call.

“Hello?” Clanging sounds could be heard from the other side of the call, together with the alarm sound signifying a train crossing.

“Hello? Who is this?” called Eiji. Suddenly, the sounds of the train crossing stopped.

<H…help me…> The terrifying voice that came out of nowhere made Eiji reflexively throw his phone away.

It had been a woman’s whimper. Eiji held his breath and looked at his phone that had fallen on the floor. He had no intention in the slightest to pick it up.

He hoped the lights would come back soon, but there was no sign of that happening. As time passed, his anxiety grew ever increasingly, and his heart wouldn’t calm down.

Eiji put all his concentration into his trembling throat and yelled, “Oi! Daichi! How is it?” Yet there was no answer.

What is he doing? Eiji converted his fear into anger towards Daichi to hold himself together.

But—the next second, something touched his nape. Something cold.

I mustn’t look—he should’ve thought, but for some reason, Eiji turned his head as if drawn by something. An eerily pale hand with prominent, dark veins.

It was that of a woman. The hand curled around his neck.

“Stop! S-stop it!” Eiji screamed through tears. The hand violently strangled his neck with no mercy. Until Eiji finally couldn’t let out a sound anymore.

His vision blurred— Between his wavering consciousness, Eiji could hear the voice of a woman.

Help me. -

2 -

“A cursed video?” said Haruka in surprise. She thought it was some kind of joke as the choice of words made it sound like the title of a horror film. However, Fujimoto Asami, who sat across from her, didn’t look like she was joking.

Her widened eyes signified the terrified look on her face. Haruka was swallowed by the intensity of it, the chatter of the bustling cafeteria as lunch hour approached felt like they were drifting away.

“That’s right. It has to be a cursed video,” said Asami again, gritting her teeth. Asami, a student from the same seminar as Haruka, had reached out to her to discuss something.

As the campus festival drew near, Haruka had thought it was probably to discuss romance or the like, so she had casually agreed. Yet, the words that had come out of Asami’s mouth had been entirely unexpected to her.

“I’m saying, it has to be a cursed video. Right?” said Asami, turning to the female student sitting beside her. It was Haruka’s first time meeting her. She was Asami’s friend, Natsuki. Since earlier, Natsuki had kept looking down and had a gloomy aura completely opposite of Asami.

In confusion, Natsuki responded, “Y-yes. I think so as well.” The two seemed convinced, but Haruka still didn’t understand.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Haruka. “This—”

Asami took out a transparent plastic box from her bag. Inside was some kind of DVD or Blu-ray disc. “What’s this?”

“I'm telling you, this is the cursed video,” said Asami, annoyed. “Ah, I see,” replied Haruka vaguely.

“What’s with that anticlimactic reaction?” said Asami with an exasperated tone, but it couldn’t be helped that Haruka reacted that way. She couldn’t immediately believe the existence of a cursed video, and besides, she didn’t understand what Asami was trying to get across.

Even so, Asami was normally a composed person. To become impatient and irritable like this, something serious had to have happened. “Could you please explain what’s actually going on?” Haruka asked Asami in a pleading tone.

Asami seemed to have realised that she had jumped into things. She then drew a long breath and said, “Actually, there’s an upperclassman in my circle called Sakamoto-san…” “What circle are you in?”

“The movie circle.” “Eh?” blurted Haruka in surprise.

“Do you really have to be that surprised?” asked Asami, and Haruka hurriedly shook her head. Haruka had misunderstood for a second. Asami was a member of the movie circle. While Yakumo was a member of the Movie Research Circle.

The university was filled with circles and associations that shared similar names. She had heard before that there were even five different snowboarding circles. “Sorry. So, what does the movie circle do?”

“We produce films.” “I see.”

If their activities were producing films instead of watching and critiquing them, then their circle was vastly different from the Movie Research Circle where Yakumo was. Well, Haruka wasn’t certain whether Yakumo even watched films, let alone critiqued them. “Then, recently we’ve been shooting a film to be showcased at the campus festival.”

“Amazing. Is Asami directing?” “No. The director is the upperclassman I mentioned earlier, Sakamoto-san. I merely helped with the audio recording and made some appearances in the film.”

“You’re in the film!?” “There’s no need to talk about that,” Asami immediately responded, sounding irritated.

Indeed, Haruka was getting sidetracked. “Apologies, please continue.” “Anyway, when we examined the footage we shot, something strange was captured on camera.”

“Something strange?” “Yes. I can’t put it into words very well, but it was really terrifying...”

“Terrifying?” “From what I heard, Sakamoto-san first saw it while editing. Afterwards, the lights suddenly went out and a female ghost appeared...”

Listening to the story thus far, Haruka finally understood what Asami wanted to discuss. For some reason, rumours had gone around that Haruka was knowledgeable about the supernatural.

Thanks to that, people had often approached her to consult about anything spiritual. Asami had to be one of them as well. It was true that Haruka had experienced a number of spiritual phenomena and had been a witness to the closure of those incidents. However, that was about as far as her involvement had gone.

The true person behind the closure of said cases was Saitou Yakumo. She had tried to clarify many times, but in the end they would always say, “In that case, Haruka, please ask for that person’s help.”

She could simply refuse them, but Haruka was weak to being pleaded to and it had become a bad habit of hers. In the end, she’d easily make promises to them. “Sakamoto-san became terrified and stopped coming to the circle ever since. Other members had mixed reactions, but the other day we decided to actually watch this DVD—” Asami continued her story with no regard for Haruka’s feelings.

“Uh-huh.” “Then—strange images that were never recorded appeared. That wouldn’t be a problem by itself, but the lights suddenly went out and everything became pitch black…and afterwards...” said Asami, giving a pause.

While it was mere seconds in reality, Haruka felt like it lasted for eternity. “In the room, a female ghost...” said Asami, covering her face with both hands.

She must be recalling that very scene. In that position, what sounded like sobs could be heard from Asami. The weather wasn’t cold, yet her body was shivering slightly.

It must’ve been a terrifying experience for her. “Are you alright?” consoled Haruka, placing a hand on Asami’s shoulder.

“This has to be a cursed video. I’m begging…please help me...” Asami lowered her hands and gazed towards Haruka.

Her eyes were wet from the tears that welled out of fear. Haruka turned to look at Natsuki. She looked terrified as well.

Yakumo wouldn’t be pleased, but Haruka wouldn’t be so cruel as to abandon them, having been met with such expressions. -

3 -

“Yakumo-kun, this is terrible, terrible—” Haruka roughly opened the door to the Movie Research Circle clubroom.

“What are you, Hachibee?” said Yakumo. He sat on his usual spot with a displeased look and stared at Haruka with languid eyes, as if freshly awakened. “Hachibee?” Haruka asked in return.

Yakumo ran a hand through his tangled hair and let out a long sigh. “The character that appeared in the period drama Mitokoumon. One that made a ruckus saying ‘terrible, terrible’ whilst bringing about trouble.” “Aah.”

Having mentioned that, such a character probably did exist. “You bring nothing but trouble and are good for nothing; truly just like Hachibee.”

“Ugh,” Haruka groaned. Though annoyed, it was true that she was good for nothing, so she couldn’t deny that fact.

“Stop getting into unnecessary trouble, quickly get rid of it,” said Yakumo, swaying his hand as if shooing her away. “Even if you say that…”

Lethargically, Haruka sat on the chair in front of Yakumo. She couldn't simply ignore Asami and her friend just like that.

“Besides, you’re getting in too much trouble recently.” “It’s not like I enjoy getting myself involved in trouble.”

“I don’t think that was the case.” “Eh?”

“This is the third time this week, you know. Impossible for this much trouble to come on its own if it wasn’t for you gathering them.” Yakumo lifted three of his fingers and aimed it at Haruka.

It was true that Haruka had brought in quite the amount of trouble recently. If Yakumo were to run a business as a detective specialising in spiritual cases, then she would have become a reliable assistant bringing in new cases. Unfortunately, Yakumo was merely a university student.

His displeasure over being brought two, three cases a week was perfectly understandable. Haruka understood that, but it was in her character not to sit still and ignore others in struggle.

“At least listen to the story first, can’t you?” Haruka observed Yakumo’s face.

Yakumo withdrew his body backwards as if evading her and clicked his tongue. While a little forceful, Haruka took that as an agreement and began explaining.

“There’s a cursed video—” said Haruka. Yakumo instantly shook his head from disbelief. “Are you stupid?”

“Why am I suddenly getting called stupid?” “This isn’t a horror movie, do you really think something as suspicious as a cursed video truly existed?”

Yakumo’s reaction couldn’t be helped. Haruka didn’t believe it at first either. But— “This is true. Watching this video would make a ghost appear. My friend became terrified at the thought that something might happen after...” Haruka placed the encased DVD lent by Asami on the table.

After glaring at the aforementioned DVD as if spotting a cockroach, Yakumo threw a condescending look at Haruka. “Have you watched the contents of this DVD?”

“Not yet,” Haruka shook her head. She came here right after hearing Asami’s story, so there was no way she had already watched it.

“So it isn’t confirmed whether a ghost would truly appear upon watching this.” “That is true…”

“If you haven’t confirmed it, then you shouldn’t have been able to conclude its certainty.” “Well, I guess so...”

“Even if the ghost were to appear as we watched it, we don’t know what kind of curse it is.” “What do you mean?” Haruka tilted her head.

“You don’t even know such a thing?” “Yeah.”

“Turns out the word stupid isn’t even enough to describe you,” Propping his chin with one hand, Yakumo threw a condescending gaze at Haruka. Even being looked at in such a manner wouldn’t make her understand what she did not.

“What are you trying to say?” “Has anyone who saw the ghost met with any danger?”

“That…” Apparently the upperclassman named Sakamoto had stopped coming to the circle, but that was all. She hadn’t heard of anything else.

“Nothing happened, yet they believed this video was cursed? Don’t you think they were rushing to that conclusion?” Yakumo was right.

The ghost had merely appeared and nothing else had happened. “But, if we waited for something to actually happen, wouldn’t it be too late?”

Putting off handling certain issues may only cause the situation to become more serious. Such an example would be stalker murder cases that happened as of late.

Haruka often heard of devastating cases in which the victim had already made a report to the police, yet the police had taken no action, getting the victim killed in the end. As Haruka made that argument, Yakumo’s expression grew visibly displeased.

“You’re trying to say this ghost might curse someone to death, is that it?” said Yakumo, his tone full of hostility. “Perhaps something like that will happen.”

“All this time, what have you seen?” asked Yakumo, clicking his tongue. “What do you mean?”

“Ghosts cursing humans to death? It’s impossible,” Yakumo firmly denied. That was true.

Panic had made Haruka forget an important point. Although currently concealed with a black contact lens, Yakumo’s left eye was actually a bright shade of red.

It wasn’t just red in colour, the eye allowed him to see the spirits of the dead—in other words, ghosts. Yakumo had solved a myriad of spiritual cases by putting that ability into use. Yakumo, who had always been able to see ghosts, defined them as clusters of feelings of people who had passed, according to his own experience.

Because of that, he didn’t think ghosts were capable of exerting physical influence. Ghosts cursing humans to their deaths was something that could never possibly happen.

Even though Haruka had witnessed that fact firsthand, she had gotten shaken from having seen Asami so deeply frightened. “So this isn’t a cursed video?”

“It would be right to think that way.” Yakumo folded his arms and nodded firmly.

He must’ve been trying to say not to overreact just because a ghost had appeared. Coming from Yakumo’s perspective who had always been able to see ghosts, it wasn’t hard to see why he would think so. “But…in that case, what should be done?”

Judging from Asami’s terrified state, she probably wouldn’t be convinced even if Haruka tried to explain. “That isn’t my problem,” said Yakumo without a care.

Against such indifference, Haruka had nothing to reply. She wasn’t confident about it, but there seemed to be no other option than to explain things to Asami. -

4 -

Having been kicked from Yakumo’s room, Haruka tried to contact Asami. However, only the dialling tone could be heard; no one was picking up, nor was there any reply from the answering machine.

She had no choice but to leave a message with the subject of wanting to discuss the spiritual phenomenon. After sending the message, a thought came to her mind.

She might not be Yakumo, but she wouldn’t be able to explain things to Asami without knowing the contents of this DVD. Haruka decided to pay a visit to the campus library.

In the library there were booths with DVD players in them. She planned to watch it there. Haruka could’ve just watched it at home, but Asami might get in touch with her, so it would be better for her to stay around the campus area. Furthermore, while Yakumo had said there wasn’t any curse, she still didn’t want to watch it alone in an enclosed room.

There had to be other people in the library, so she didn’t need to be scared. Luckily, a booth in the corner was unoccupied.

Haruka sat on the chair within the booth. The monitor was a mere seventeen inches, but that shouldn’t be a problem as she just wanted to check the contents. Haruka plugged the earphones into her ears and placed the DVD on the tray before pressing the play button.

The first image displayed was of the students preparing for their shoot in the vicinity of an abandoned building. A man who appeared to be the director spewed out instructions one after another with an arrogant tone. This person had to be the movie circle’s upperclassman, Sakamoto.

Haruka spotted Asami’s figure in the middle of reading the script. Moments later, the scene changed.

This one captured a man and two women, one Asami and the other Natsuki. “Ready, action!” said a man’s voice who was probably Sakamoto’s.

Along with that, Asami, Natsuki, and the man began to walk whilst conversing. The hand holding the camera followed after them. The image was shaky and difficult to watch, to the point that it made Haruka feel nauseous.

“W-what on earth?!” shouted Asami in surprise as she pointed at the stained walls of the hospital. Her acting couldn’t remotely be considered good, even if to put it nicely.

“What? What is it?!” The man holding the camera responded, and ran towards the spot Asami had pointed to zoom in closer. A cursed straw doll laid there, its body punctured with a long nail.

The group screamed in unison. Haruka was merely watching the footage, yet her head hurt for some reason.

Apparently the concept of the story had been that one of the four people happened to be filming with a camera on his hand. However, their acting had been way too obvious, rendering it unentertaining to watch. On top of that, the zoom in had been too intentional and over exaggerated that Haruka ended up laughing.

Perhaps the footage had been shaken on purpose to make it feel more realistic. Even so, the shaking had been over the top as if shot whilst riding a jet coaster, that any viewer would be nauseous. Haruka was relieved at the fact that she was watching with a small monitor. If it had been a large one, she might not be able to stand watching it.

More importantly, she felt like she had watched a similar film before. A horror film with a documentary style just like this one had gained popularity a while back, and it was as if this film was trying to copy it.

Haruka wanted to click the pause button, but she shook her head and reconsidered. She wasn’t watching to enjoy the film’s content. Rather, she did so to confirm the spiritual phenomenon.

Afterwards, Haruka regained her focus and a few scenes continued with a similar pattern. As she began to think the film was going to end just like that, noise suddenly appeared on the monitor.

Straightening her back, Haruka intently watched the monitor. The noise gradually spread larger, until the monitor eventually hissed like a sandstorm.

Moments as she thought the display would remain in that state, the noise vanished. A railway crossing appeared on the monitor.

Clang, clang— Sounds of the railway crossing echoed through.

The flashing red light warning the incoming train stirred up her anxiety. The railway crossing scene continued for some time before the monitor suddenly went black.

Haruka thought the film was over, but that wasn’t it. The blackness slowly thinned out over time.

Not long after, something emerged amidst the darkness. A human figure.

It seemed to be a woman dressed in white. The woman laid in a place that looked like a coffin.

She had a youthful appearance. Her eyes were closed, unmoving. While she had a thin layer of makeup on, one could tell she was extremely pale underneath.

Is she dead? As Haruka questioned that fact, the scene changed once more.

This time it depicted a street. People came and went throughout the nighttime crowd. What is this?

The scene switched yet again, now displaying the same railway crossing as earlier. Clang, clang—sounded the alarm.

Alongside the flashing warning light, a woman’s face appeared on and off across the entire monitor. The monitor returned to black.

Is it over? Haruka thought before a voice could be heard. “Help me...”

At the sound of a woman’s hoarse voice, something cold ran through Haruka’s back.  “Hyaa!” yelped Haruka as she stood up. The earphones on her ears slipped out and fell.

Her heartbeat went through the roof. Sweat dribbled on her forehead, and she struggled to breathe.

Haruka understood then. It wasn’t surprising that Asami had declared this to be a cursed video upon watching, as it was indeed that terrifying. Even so—

No ghost had appeared as Asami had claimed. Maybe they had been mistaken after all?

As Haruka was about to take the DVD out of the tray, something cold touched her nape. It was different from the wind. Almost like something was actually touching her.

Haruka wanted to turn around when a voice could be heard in her ear. “Please...stop it already...”

Haruka briefly thought the voice came from the DVD. However, her earphones had come off when she had stood up earlier. She glanced at her surroundings, but there was no one in sight.

Was that a ghost just now? Confused and scared, Haruka could only stand still in place.

- 5

- Haruka returned home with a heavy heart.

She couldn’t get the video she had just watched out of her thoughts. Its contents were incomprehensible, but that only made it plague her mind further.

After seeing the video, she had tried to contact Yakumo, yet her call hadn’t gone through. She had also tried to visit the Movie Research Circle clubroom, but Yakumo hadn’t been there. Even if they had met, chances were she’d only be treated as a troublemaker and chased away. Despite that, Haruka was certain her fears would’ve diminished by speaking to Yakumo.

By hearing a logical explanation, her thoughts would become organised, and just by talking to Yakumo, her feelings would grow lighter. How miraculous, even though she was convinced she would only be mocked upon.

There was no use having those thoughts now. She would visit Yakumo again tomorrow and ask him to watch this video footage. If Yakumo were to declare that she had been mistaken, she would be relieved.

Haruka headed for the bathroom for a change of atmosphere. After taking a shower and a hot bath, that scene would surely leave her mind. Unfortunately, her expectations were entirely wrong.

While washing her hair, she felt a hand reaching for her from behind. Even whilst submerged in the tub, she ended up sensing a person’s reflection on the mirror.

Being inside a cramped, closed area while defenceless made her anxious. In the end, Haruka escaped and ran out of the bathroom.

And even as she was drying her hair after a change of clothes, she was constantly worrying about her back. Asami must have felt the same.

Haruka turned the television to a louder volume than usual. She had just sat down on the bed when her phone rang. It was from Asami—

“Hello?” As soon as she picked up the call, Haruka could hear Asami’s gut-wrenching cries. <Help me!>

“What’s wrong?” <It really was a curse after all. Haruka, please do something!>

Asami’s voice was clearly trembling from fear. “Hold on. Keep yourself together. What happened?”

<Sakamoto-san...he...> “What about him?”

<H-he disappeared!> said Asami between sobs. “Disappeared? What do you mean?”

If Haruka were to panic herself, she wouldn’t be able to grasp the situation. She tried her best to question her calmly. <I’m telling you, Sakamoto-san disappeared,> said Asami restlessly.

“He wasn’t locking himself in his room out of fear of ghosts?” Asami had explained so at first.

<That was what I thought. But I was wrong. We went to his place together earlier, yet his house was unlocked...then, we couldn’t find him anywhere...> “Maybe he was just away for the moment?”

<His wallet and phone were left inside the room!> If that were the case, rather than being away, people would be led to believe that he had disappeared.

Not only had his door been unlocked, his phone and wallet had been left inside the room; however clumsy a person could be, it was abnormal. Despite that, it felt exaggerated to claim that he had disappeared due to a curse solely based on this much information.

“Perhaps he was only out for a short while and would come back soon?” suggested Haruka, but even she felt she was pushing that theory. Unsurprisingly, Asami denied in an instant. <That’s not it!>

“But…” <We waited for an hour in his room, but he never returned!>

Things were only getting stranger. “Then, police...”

<I had the same thought initially, that’s why I went home first. But it’s right there!> “What is?”

<That ghost. It stood in front of my house and stared intently across my window. Sakamoto-san must’ve been dragged by that ghost as well,> said Asami hurriedly. It appeared that Asami had panicked because the ghost had appeared in front of her house after Sakamoto’s disappearance.

She must’ve thought that she was about to be taken away next. “Anyway, contact the police first. I’ll quickly head over there too,” Haruka briefly said before she ended the call, put a jacket on, and left the house.

She knew she couldn’t do much even by going there. Nevertheless, she could at least calm Asami down. Besides, rather than trembling by herself at a time like this, her feelings should improve with the company of another.

The last time Haruka had visited Asami’s place had nearly been a year ago. Even so, she still roughly remembered the location. Her body shivered from the cold night air as she rushed towards Asami’s place.

Asami’s apartment was situated in the inner parts of a quiet road. The structure was rather old and while it used an automatic lock, the building had no security cameras. Haruka pressed the doorbell to Asami’s place through the intercom at the building’s entrance.

Yet there was no answer. Strange.

Haruka contacted Asami with her phone. Somehow, a cell phone ring could be heard from within the bushes in front of the apartment. What’s the meaning of this?

Haruka approached the bushes to find that a phone was dropped there. Once Haruka ended her call, the ringing of the phone within the bushes stopped as well. This is Asami’s phone.

Haruka crouched to pick it up. She recognised the model. There was no mistaking it, it belonged to Asami.

That meant something had happened to Asami. Haruka stood dumbfounded when something suddenly touched her nape. The cold sensation froze her back.

I mustn’t look. She repeated that sentence over and over in her mind, yet her body moved on her own.

Slowly, she turned to see the face of a deathly pale woman standing there. The same woman from the cursed video. “Aaah!” Haruka screamed as she fell to a sitting position, and the woman disappeared as if melting into the darkness.

There was no mistaking it anymore, the video was indeed cursed. Haruka gathered all her concentration on her trembling hands to contact Yakumo on her phone.

The dialling tone felt like an eternity. <What business do you have calling this late into the night?>

His tone was annoyed and displeased, yet tears of relief welled in Haruka’s eyes. “Yakumo-kun. Please, help me—” said Haruka, forcing out her voice.

- 6

- Haruka stood in front of the apartment entrance and stared emptily in the direction of Asami's room.

Afterwards, Yakumo had asked her to contact Gotou. Gotou was a police detective from the Unsolved Cases Special Investigations Division. One of the few people who knew about Yakumo’s ability, his assistance had contributed to the resolution of many cases.

Right now, Gotou and his partner Ishii were in the middle of investigating Asami’s room. Haruka hoped she had gotten worried over nothing and Asami would come out whilst saying, “What is it?”

However, the phone that had fallen in the bushes made that outcome unlikely. “Are you alright?” a voice suddenly spoke.

Haruka turned to find Yakumo there. Yakumo ran a hand through his messy head of hair with an annoyed look on his face, yet Haruka felt relieved from the bottom of her heart simply by seeing the face of the approaching man.

So much, that she felt like hugging Yakumo and sobbing to her heart’s content. Yet if she were to do that, she felt that Yakumo would mock her relentlessly, calling her ‘disgusting’ among other insults, so Haruka simply nodded. “Yes,”

“Tell me what happened,” said Yakumo with an unusually serious expression. Could it be that he regretted not properly listening to Haruka’s story earlier that day?

Truthfully, Haruka felt remorseful as well. She hadn’t fully believed Asami when she had all that talk about a cursed video. As a result, she hadn’t been too insistent in asking Yakumo for help.

Either way, there was no point to continue wallowing in regret. Haruka explained in detail all that she knew, including the contents of the DVD.

When she was finished, Yakumo reached for his chin and mumbled, “I see.” “Did you get anything?” asked Haruka.

Yakumo immediately frowned. “You keep saying that as your second sentence.” “Because...”

“Didn’t I always tell you not to rush into conclusions?” Precisely as he said.

Yakumo had emphasised that countless times. Haruka reflected on herself as well, but having little understanding of the situation had always made her anxious. “Could this really be the curse of the video…?” said Haruka without realising.

Oh no—Haruka thought as soon as the words left her mouth. Yakumo had just said not to rush into conclusions. And yet, Yakumo’s words weren’t what she expected.

“In a way, perhaps it could be considered a curse.” “What do you mean?” replied Haruka when Gotou and Ishii emerged from the apartment building entrance.

“Hey,” greeted Gotou as he casually waved his hand. Meanwhile, Ishii ran towards them like an excited puppy whilst calling out, “Haruka-chan—”

And then fell. “What are you even doing?” said Gotou, lightly bumping Ishii’s head before approaching.

Ishii patted his knees before following his superior. “So, how was it?” asked Yakumo.

“It was nothing.” “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“You’re noisy.” “Isn’t Gotou-san the one being noisy?”

“What did you say?!” As Yakumo and Gotou began their usual bickering, Ishii hurriedly mediated to stop them.

“You should just be quiet,” cursed Gotou, letting out his emotions on Ishii by landing a punch on his head. This too had been a routine for them.

Haruka felt relieved, but they wouldn’t make any progress by quarrelling here. “What about Asami?” asked Haruka again.

“About that...” said Gotou, stroking the thin layer of beard on his face. “She wasn’t in the room.” “N-no way…”

It took everything from Haruka not to break down at that moment. “Were there any signs of her room being ransacked?” Yakumo asked Gotou.

“None. Her room was neat. Furthermore, the door was unlocked and the lights were still on.” “Is that so...” murmured Yakumo, his gaze trailing into the air.

“Was Asami perhaps taken away by someone?” The situation was overly strange for her to have simply gone outside. Harika didn’t want to believe it either, but she presented it as a possibility.

“The circumstances are unusual, but I think that possibility is unlikely,” interrupted Ishii. “How so?”

“Haruka-chan, from your story earlier, she was terrified, right?” “Yes.”

“If that were the case, she should’ve locked the door.” “Maybe the culprit has a duplicate of the key.”

“Even so, if she was terrified, she should’ve had the door chain lock attached as well.” “Fair point.”

“There were no signs of damage on the chain lock, so we can conclude that she had opened the door out of her own will,” Ishii seamlessly explained as he adjusted his silver framed glasses with the tip of his finger. Haruka understood what Ishii was trying to say. Despite that, she still couldn’t accept it.

“But wouldn’t it be strange for Asami to leave without locking the door? The lights were on too, right?” “Well, yes. That was the case...”

“Besides, her phone fell in the bushes. That is clearly strange,” Ishii began to panic. “That’s true...”

He made a gesture of wiping his sweat. “Could this be the work of a ghost?” asked Haruka.

Ishii’s face instantly grew tense. “G-ghost?” “Yes. Maybe the ghost took away Asa—”

“That’s impossible,” Yakumo denied before Haruka could finish her sentence. Haruka knew what Yakumo was about to say.

Yakumo defined ghosts as clusters of emotions of the dead, incapable of exerting physical influence on the living. From Yakumo’s perspective, there was no way a ghost could have abducted a human.

Even so, Haruka hadn’t brought up that idea without consideration. She had suspected a certain possibility.

“But it’s possible that the ghost could’ve possessed Asami and led her somewhere outside of her own will, right?” So far, Haruka had witnessed a number of people getting possessed by ghosts.

Whilst possessed, their bodies would be manipulated beyond their will and they might act in unexpected ways. If this phenomenon had been a possession, it would explain the strangeness of the current situation.

What does Yakumo-kun think about this? Haruka turned towards Yakumo.

“I can’t deny that as a possibility,” said Yakumo, showing his approval for the time being. And yet, he seemed to be considering something else in his mind— -

7 -

“Would it really be alright for us to watch it?” asked Haruka reluctantly. The next day, Yakumo told Haruka that he wanted to see the cursed video. Hence, they went to the booth at the library together.

“Why are you asking that?” Yakumo gave his usual unenergetic look towards Haruka.

Why? Well, that’s— “Because, you might get cursed from watching it…”

“You’re still saying that nonsense?” “Nonsense...”

“This isn’t a horror film, there’s no way we’d be cursed just by watching a video.” “But, Asami’s whereabouts are still unknown...”

To this point, Asami was yet to be found. Apparently Gotou and Ishii were conducting a search, so she could only wait and leave it in their hands. Even so, if Asami’s disappearance had something to do with this video’s curse, they would likely have a hard time finding Asami.

“As for that, you yourself stated a different possibility last night, didn’t you. Have you forgotten?” He was referring to Asami going someplace else beyond her will due to being possessed.

Of course Haruka remembered. However— “That’s just one possibility...”

“I know. That’s why I need to watch the video to confirm a few things,” said Yakumo, ending their conversation. He popped open the DVD player tray and placed the disc there. The sight of the DVD being swallowed by the tray accompanied by mechanical noises felt terrifying to Haruka.

The play button was pressed and the video began. “This is utterly terrible...” said Yakumo, mixed in between sighs as soon as the scene started.

“Terrible in what way?” Haruka tried to ask casually. “The composition’s all over the place. They intended to make it feel like a documentary, but the footage was shaking excessively.”

“That’s true.” “Not to mention despite being university students, their acting was pathetic. The dialogue was hopeless. Like this, you’d be better off watching a broadcast test footage.”

Yakumo’s opinion was harsh, but Haruka had no intention of blaming him. That was because Haruka shared more or less the same opinion.

The monitor momentarily displayed some noise before the problematic scene appeared. An image of the railway crossing, the warning light that flashed red in unison with the clanging sound.

The scene then transitioned to the corpse-like woman’s face, then the bustling city at night, before returning to the railway crossing scene. As the monitor turned to black, a woman’s voice saying “Help me...” could be heard.

The video was undoubtedly terrifying no matter how many times one watched it. Once, Haruka had watched a French short film titled An Andalusian Dog.

The film had no clear storyline, mainly displaying a series of shocking, mysterious imagery. Ants crowding on the palm of one’s hand, an eyeball being sliced with a straight razor, a severed hand being poked around with a stick. Similar to when she had watched that film, her entire body felt uncomfortable right now.

After watching it once, Haruka thought they were finally done with, yet Yakumo replayed the same part over and over again instead. Perhaps he had discovered something.

“I see—” muttered Yakumo after they had finished watching the video. He placed a hand on his pointed chin. His face remained composed as usual.

“How is it?” asked Haruka, expressing the mysterious feeling wallowing within her. “A decent video.”

“Yes?” Yakumo’s reply was far beyond what Haruka had expected, throwing her off in confusion.

“I’m saying, it looked significantly more polished than the one made by the movie circle members.” “Polished?”

“That’s right. The composition was great, even the colours were well put together. Whoever produced it had a keen sense for this sort of thing. Most importantly, the video had a powerful message.” Yakumo repeatedly nodded in approval.

His manner of speech was as if appraising a work of art. From Haruka’s perspective, the composition and colours of the film had been extremely terrifying.

Even so, if the intention was to make the audience feel that way, then the video had succeeded in that regard. At the very least, the array of footage carried more appeal than ones Sakamoto and the rest had taken.

However— “There was a message?”

To Haruka, the video merely seemed like putting pieces of different scenes together. “There was. A very powerful one at that.”

“I don’t think there was though…” “That’s because you didn’t watch it properly.”

“I watched it properly, though,” replied Haruka in annoyance. When she had watched it for the first time, there were parts that had left her shocked, but this time around she had been watching more closely.

“If you did, you should’ve known, right?” “I’m asking because I don’t,” Haruka kicked the floor out of frustration.

“To think that you’d gotten accepted in this university with that level of concentration.” “Thank you for the wonderful praise. Rather than that, tell me then, what sort of message was in that video?”

“See it for yourself,” said Yakumo curtly, before removing the DVD from the tray and handing it over to Haruka. Yakumo must have implied for Haruka to keep rewatching the film until she finally understood.

Obviously, Haruka didn’t dare to do that. “No way,” Haruka firmly refused despite accepting the DVD handed over by Yakumo.

“To think you could be my assistant, being like that.” “I never intended to be your assistant. Besides, if I’m your assistant, I should be getting my share as well,” highlighted Haruka.

Yakumo flashed a smile. “What kind of reason is that?” “What do you mean?”

Haruka didn’t feel like she had said anything strange. “You wanted a share, but how much was the reward for this request in the first place?”

“That’s...” “Thanks to you, I’m practically forced to work all the time. Save the talk about rewards and the like for when you’ve managed to find a request that actually pays.”

Precisely. The majority of requests Haruka brought over to Yakumo had no compensation in return.

“Isn’t it fine? After all, it’s not like you’re running a business as a private detective.” “Exactly. I’m merely a university student. That’s why you’re only troubling me by bringing in problems like this.“

“S-sorry...” Haruka could only apologise. Yakumo had a point. Continuously bringing in requests that gave nothing in return wasn’t an example to be followed.

“Well, anyway. Rather than that, let’s go—” said Yakumo as he stood up and ruffled his dishevelled hair. “Go? Where to?”

“To investigate, obviously.” Eyes filled with mockery, Yakumo’s gaze stung.

Haruka questioned what she had done to deserve such a condescending look. Haruka knew they were going to investigate, but where? In the end, she didn’t complain.

Yakumo was finally willing to take action. There was no benefit in ruining his mood. -

8 -

Haruka and Yakumo went to the campus cafeteria. Earlier, they had visited the movie circle and asked Natsuki’s help to gather the people who had watched the video at the cafeteria.

Aside from Natsuki, two guys called Seiichi and Daichi came to attend the meeting. Seiichi was the other person who had appeared in the video alongside Asami and Natsuki. Meanwhile, Daichi was the assistant director who had been with Sakamoto when Sakamoto had been editing the video.

The person who had been recording with the camera was someone named Kentarou, but they hadn’t been able to contact him. Normally they wouldn’t have been bothered, but with the current situation, that fact turned increasingly worrisome.

“Apologies for troubling you all to come over.” As everyone else sat around the table, Yakumo was the sole person standing, speaking as he cast a gaze across everyone.

All eyes on the table were directed towards Yakumo. Who are you? That same question repeatedly surfaced and subsided. Yakumo, as if sensing that fact, smiled before he continued. “The truth is, I have ties with people from the temple, so I’m fairly knowledgeable about supernatural related incidents. Perhaps I could be of help to all of you for this case,” he said politely.

To Haruka, who was more familiar with Yakumo, that mannerism was clearly unnatural. Yet with it he seemed to have gained the trust of those who had only just met him. “Is it true that Sakamoto and Fujimoto’s whereabouts are unknown?” Seiichi was the first to open his mouth.

“Indeed. It is true that the two are unreachable as of now,” answered Yakumo carefully. “That’s why I’ve been saying I hated the idea,” added Seiichi, sounding fed up.

“About what exactly?” Yakumo continued the question without breaking his smile.

“The hospital that was our shooting location. There have always been rumours that there’s something there.” “By something, were you referring to ghosts?”

“Yes. Apparently the hospital director there used to be a maniac who performed human experimentation. The entire thing had been exposed and the hospital went bankrupt in the end.” “Is that so,” Yakumo responded in agreement, but Haruka knew for certain—deep inside, Yakumo didn’t believe it.

Haruka too felt suspicious about Seiichi’s story. Secretly performed human experimentation was a downright ridiculous story. Even if that had been true, then it should’ve become a major news story, yet she didn’t recall hearing such kind of news.

It was more likely an urban legend one would often find in a city or area. “Such a terrifying scene even appeared in the footage we shot; truly awful.”

Seiichi’s face was as if implying this was the end of the world. “Who chose the shooting location?” asked Yakumo, and Daichi raised his hand slightly.

“You were the one who chose it?” Seiichi threw a blaming look at Daichi. “No, not like that. Sakamoto-san asked me to look for places for the shooting location, so I gave him several options. And that place was among the options I proposed—” Daichi explained before dropping his gaze.

Perhaps he felt responsible. However, if Sakamoto had been the one who made the final decision, he shouldn’t have to feel so guilty. Piecing their stories together so far—putting aside the part about human experimentation—the problem seemed to lie on the abandoned hospital that had been chosen as the shooting location, and thus the cursed video had emerged.

Even without human experimentation in the equation, hospitals were places where many people had passed away. It wouldn’t be strange for spiritual phenomena to occur while shooting footage in such a location.

“Was there nothing strange during the shooting?” asked Yakumo. The three exchanged glances and nodded.

Haruka sensed something was off here. Such a video had emerged as a result. It would be strange for nothing to have happened during the shoot.

“By the way, who was the first to review the resulting footage?” asked Yakumo. Daichi raised his hand once again. “I was present when Sakamoto-san was editing, and I suppose that was the first time that we saw the footage.”

“From what I heard, Sakamoto-san had seen a ghost then. Did you see one as well?” “No. The lights had gone out, so I went outside as I thought the fuse had blown. That was when I heard Sakamoto-san scream…”

“That means, you didn’t see it?” “I didn’t see it very clearly. But...I think there was a woman standing there when I returned to the clubroom.”

He didn’t firmly state that he had seen one, but he had seen something that could possibly be a ghost. “I see. Then, did you see one?” said Yakumo, facing Seiichi. 

“I didn’t…” Seiichi frowned. “Did you watch the video alone?”

“No. Sakamoto told me that he wanted me to watch it. So I watched it with Sakamoto.” “Did the ghost appear then?”

“No. The video was terrifying, but that was all.” Seiichi didn’t look too scared, but it might have been because he hadn’t seen the ghost.

“How about you?” asked Yakumo, this time turning towards Natsuki. “I also…didn’t see any ghosts.”

“You watched the footage, right?” “Yes.”

“Who did you watch it with?” “With Asami, just the two of us,” replied Natsuki, and Yakumo made a face as if surprised by it.

Rather than a spontaneous reaction, Yakumo seemed to have displayed that look on purpose to add emphasis. “Didn’t Asami-san see a ghost?” said Yakumo, asking Haruka for clarification.

“That was what I heard,” replied Haruka. Yakumo nodded in satisfaction at Haruka’s reply and faced Natsuki once more. “Why was Asami the only one who saw a ghost?”

“About that...Asami had watched it ahead of me. Sakamoto-san had passed the video to her…Then, because there had been a strange scene, Asami had said she wanted to watch it with me.” In other words, it was possible that the ghost had appeared while Asami was watching alone, yet when she had watched it with Natsuki afterwards, nothing had appeared. Asami had seen a ghost, yet Natsuki hadn’t.

The story made sense, but— Natsuki was clearly behaving strangely.

She was tense, as if afraid of something. “Was your story the truth?” asked Yakumo, folding his arms while narrowing his eyes.

“Yes,” replied Natsuki before lowering her head. Haruka thought Yakumo would pressure Natsuki with more questions, yet unexpectedly, Yakumo easily backed off and simply responded, “I see.”

Was Natsuki’s unnatural behaviour merely Haruka’s own misconception? While Haruka was deep in her thoughts, Yakumo spoke. “The information you all gave is incredibly helpful—” before directly walking out of the cafeteria.

Even though he had claimed he might be of help. The people he had left behind after his half baked effort became dumbfounded. Haruka intended to leave after giving a polite thank you in Yakumo’s stead, but Seiichi called out to her.

“So, what should we do now?” Well, it was natural for them to think that way.

“If we manage to discover something, I’ll reach out to you all.” “Do you know how to contact us?”

That… “Ah, right. Natsuki-san, could we exchange phone numbers?” said Haruka to Natsuki, and once they had exchanged their contact information, Haruka then chased after Yakumo.

- 9

- “So, have you found something?”

Haruka expressed her question as she finally managed to catch up to Yakumo after having left the cafeteria. Yakumo glanced at Haruka. “The big picture, pretty much,” said Yakumo nonchalantly.

“What do you know so far?” “I can’t say for now.”

Yakumo often responded like this. It wasn’t to purposely mess around nor to appear cool. Yakumo merely didn’t want to say anything unnecessary before acquiring concrete evidence.

That way, he tried not to create assumptions. “Just a hint wouldn’t hurt, right?”

“This isn’t a quiz show.” “Well, that’s true.”

“Even if this was a quiz, I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t be able to solve it with your abilities.” A ruthless comment, as usual.

“Yes, yes, I’m dumb after all.” “So you are aware.”

“Ugh!” Haruka felt her anger boiling, yet she would only be reciprocated a hundred times over if she tried to get back at him. 

“Well, if you listened to their stories, you’d understand that there were certain rules in place,” said Yakumo, spreading his arms jokingly. “Rules...”

“Yes. All of them watched that cursed video. Yet some saw a ghost and some didn’t. Think about why that was the case. You should arrive at the answer.” Sakamoto and Asami had seen a ghost. While Daichi had seen something that had seemed like a ghost—his response had been vague.

On the other hand, Seiichi and Natsuki hadn’t seen a ghost. Then, Sakamoto and Asami, who had seen a ghost, had gone missing.

As Yakumo had pointed out, there appeared to be some sort of rule. Even so, Haruka couldn’t grasp what that rule was no matter how hard she tried to think. Before long, they had reached the Movie Research Circle clubroom where Yakumo stayed.

They opened the door to find Gotou and Ishii inside. “Gotou-san. Ishii-san. What’s the matter?” Haruka exclaimed.

Gotou, who had been chewing on his cigarette, asked back. “You’re asking what’s the matter?” Hearing that, Haruka realised the stupidity of her question.

Last night, she had contacted Gotou and Ishii and had requested their assistance to investigate Asami and Sakamoto. “Sorry. I reflexively...”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m happy just being able to meet Haruka-chan like this,” said Ishii to Haruka, puffing his chest. Gotou jabbed him immediately. “Stop grinning.”

”Whatever you say, but could you stop trespassing into people’s rooms without permission? Not exactly the sort of thing the police should have done,” said Yakumo lazily as he sat down on his usual chair. “Ha? We’re investigating your request, you know! Besides, what trespassing? The one who didn’t lock the door was at fault!” stressed Gotou, slamming his fists on the table with every emphasis of his words.

“What a messed up reason. Gotou-san’s thought process has become like a criminal’s.” “What did you say?!” Gotou stood up while raising his shoulders.

“Now, now,” Ishii tried to calm him down, only to get hit on the head. “Also, smoking is prohibited on these premises,” said Yakumo, pointing at Gotou’s cigarette.

After all it took for Ishii to stop Gotou, Yakumo nonchalantly said something that could raise Gotou’s anger all over again. Well, that sort of thing was typical of Yakumo. Gotou clicked his tongue. “I didn’t light it up,” he said, putting away his cigarette.

“So—did you two find out anything?” Yakumo spoke after everyone was seated and the situation had settled down. Haruka thought Gotou would explain, but apparently he felt it was troublesome and gave a sign towards Ishii with a gesture from his chin. Ishii responded, “Y-yes,” and hurriedly took out his notes before he began.

“Sakamoto Eiji-san and Fujimoto Asami-san’s status are still unknown. We’ve explained the situation to their parents and requested them to fill up a missing person report to be handed over to us,” Ishii said lightly. Haruka’s feelings grew heavy upon hearing the words ’missing person report’.

Those words were proof that the situation had gotten serious. “Are there any leads?”

“As of now, we don’t have any notable information from witnesses. If only there were security cameras, we could have investigated from there. Unfortunately, neither Sakamoto-san and Fujimoto-san’s premises had any security cameras installed.” “Is that so...” said Haruka in disappointment.

If they had footage from security cameras, perhaps they would have an easier time finding leads to Asami and Sakamoto’s whereabouts. “What about fingerprints?” asked Yakumo, propping his chin on one hand.

“We’ve gathered those, but the two seemed to have friends over frequently, so it was difficult to identify ones belonging to them...” Ishii adjusted his silver-framed glasses with the tip of his finger.

Even if they had lived alone, if their friends had gone in and out often, it wouldn’t be surprising for fingerprints not belonging to the resident to be discovered. “Did the two of them ever get into some kind of trouble?” Yakumo asked a completely different question.

“We’ve questioned a number of people, but there’s still little information, so we haven’t discovered anything of the sorts...” “In the end, you didn’t manage to find anything, huh,” said Yakumo, stretching his body.

Ishii lowered his head and spoke. “Apologies.” To Haruka, it wasn’t necessary for Ishii to apologise over that. But it couldn't be helped as Ishii had a habit of apologising.

“Then, what about your end?” Gotou asked Yakumo whilst leaning over. Yakumo grinned boldly in return. “Well, I more or less know the overall picture,” he said calmly.

“What did you say? Explain at once!” Gotou exclaimed, his voice loud as if urging Yakumo. “I can hear you without you yelling like that,” Yakumo plugged his ears with his fingers, signalling that Gotou was noisy.

“Enough nonsense, quickly say it.” “I refuse.”

“W-What?” “I’m saying I don’t want to.”

“You little—what kind of attitude is that? After all we did because you asked for our help!” An infuriated Gotou grasped onto Yakumo’s shirt collar.

Despite that, Yakumo’s eyes remain composed and unfaltering. “Ishii-san, please arrest this person for charges of threat and violence.”

The conversation was suddenly thrown at Ishii, leaving him dumbfounded. “No, that...” he uttered in confusion. “Just try me if you dare!” yelled Gotou.

“Why are you being so arrogant?” “What?”

“Besides, it’s the police’s duty to maintain public safety. Yet you were acting like I owe you by asking for help?” “Ugh...”

Gotou seemed to have run out of words against Yakumo’s logically sound argument. And yet, refusing to admit defeat, he cursed, “Shut up,” and released Yakumo. Irritated, Gotou reflexively reached out for his box of cigarettes, but Yakumo immediately said, “No smoking,” and he halted his movement.

“Enough with the banter. Let’s get to the main topic,” said Yakumo, clapping his hand together. Haruka felt the atmosphere in the room tense up immediately. Gotou and Ishii seemed to feel the same way; the two stared at Yakumo with a stiffened expression.

After a pause, Yakumo turned to Haruka, “Take that out—” “That is what?”

Even if suddenly told like that, she didn’t know what it meant. “You really are an imbecile.”

“What does that mean?” “Go look it up in a dictionary if you want to know.”

“Ugh.” “I’m talking about the cursed video.” said Yakumo in disbelief.

Why can’t you just mention the item directly in the first place—thought Haruka in displeasure whilst taking out the DVD from her bag. “What is this?” asked Gotou.

“I told you about it yesterday, right? This is the aforementioned cursed video.” As soon as Yakumo said that, Ishii instantly screamed, “Eeek!” jumping out of his chair.

The next second, Gotou jabbed him and yelled, “Shut up!” causing Ishii to return to his chair dejectedly. “What did you say this was?” asked Gotou, picking up said DVD and observing it closely.

“A woman’s face appeared around the second half of this video. She might have passed away from an accident or the like. I’d like for you to try and identify that woman.” So that was how it was.

If they managed to discover the ghost’s identity, they’d be able to crack the mystery of this case. “Easy for you to say. How long do you think it takes to identify a person based on face alone?”

Gotou’s argument was spot on. To identify a person just by their face was extremely difficult to do.

“There is other information as well. It’s likely that she died near a railway crossing.” “Railway crossing?”

Gotou, who hadn’t watched the video, didn’t understand. Meanwhile, Haruka knew what he meant. In that video, the scene of a railway crossing repeatedly played. It appeared that the woman had tried to hint at the location of her death through that scene.

“Also, that woman’s name is Kana.” “Eh?” Haruka stood up in surprise.

How could Yakumo have known the name of the woman in that video? Her name shouldn’t have appeared anywhere. Haruka questioned that fact, yet Yakumo simply gave her a vague answer, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Perhaps Yakumo had seen through the whole truth at this point, yet on the other hand, Haruka felt the mystery had only gone deeper. “What are we going to do after this?” Haruka asked Yakumo after Gotou and Ishii had gone home.

Sakamoto and Asami’s whereabouts were still unknown, and Haruka couldn’t even see any lead towards solving the case. Were the video truly imbued by a power of some sort, then Haruka who had watched it could fall into harm as well.

She had only just realised the fact and the thought made her shiver. “Actually, I intended to do this after further investigation, but we don’t have time.”

“What do you mean?” “Exactly as said. If things are left as they are, the two missing people might die.”

Haruka held her breath at the unexpected words coming from Yakumo. “C-can’t we prevent that from happening?”

“We’re making a move to prevent it, aren’t we?” “Ah, right...”

“That’s why, there’s something I want you to do,” said Yakumo, his lips forming a smile. Yet his eyes weren’t laughing at all.

Haruka felt an awfully terrible premonition— -

10 -

Haruka returned to the campus cafeteria. As she sat on one table, a woman approached her with hesitant steps.

It was Natsuki. Their meeting was no coincidence.

More precisely, Haruka had contacted her asking to meet. “Sorry for the suddenness,” said Haruka as she stood up.

“Not at all,” Natsuki replied weakly. Since their first meeting, Haruka had the impression that Natsuki was an incredibly fragile and seemingly unhappy woman.

Haruka ushered Natsuki to take a seat before returning to her own. “So, what do you want to talk about?” said Natsuki.

She appeared anxious, glancing at her surroundings several times. As if she didn’t want to be seen together with Haruka. “Truth is, I wanted to ask you about the cursed video.”

“I’ve told you what I know.” Natsuki’s voice became weaker than before.

Yakumo had requested Haruka to hear the story from Natsuki one more time. And it appeared that Yakumo’s calculation in choosing Natsuki as a target hadn’t been mistaken. “It’s nothing serious. I just wanted to confirm something,” said Haruka in a fabricated cheerful tone.

“About what?” said Natsuki, staring at Haruka. Natsuki gave her approval, but Haruka could clearly tell that she didn’t want Haruka to ask questions that pry too deeply.

Haruka felt sorry for her, but she couldn’t back down. “Natsuki-san, could it be that you actually know the identity of the woman in the video?”

As soon as Haruka said that, Natsuki’s face turned glum. Bingo!

So Yakumo’s prediction was right. “I don’t know,” Natsuki shook her head.

“Really?” “Yes.”

“That woman’s name is Kana-san. So? Do you remember now?” Haruka observed Natsuki’s face.

“How did you know Kana’s name?” Natsuki’s eyes widened as if they were about to pop out. As it turned out, she wasn’t very good at lying. Her words just now were the same as admitting that she knew about her.

“So you do know her. Right?” Haruka emphasised the fact. Natsuki lowered her head without answering and went silent for some time.

She seemed to be putting her thoughts together as to how she should respond. Or she could be firming her resolve to say what she knew. Natsuki lifted her face and firmly said, “I don’t know.”

Her expression was filled with determination, as if her weak impression from earlier had been a mere illusion. “Eh?”

“I’m saying, I don’t know,” said Natsuki once more. “But you know her name.”

“My friend has the same name, so I thought you were talking about that friend of mine earlier, but I was mistaken.” Haruka didn’t know what had changed Natsuki, but her resolve was unwavering to the point that there was no room to break through.

“But...” “Is that all you wanted to talk about?” asked Natsuki.

“Ah, that...” Natsuki’s reaction had been utterly unexpected, Haruka had trouble answering.

“In that case, I’m going now,” said Natsuki firmly before she stood up and walked away. Haruka could only watch her in silence.

Just what sort of transformation had occurred within Natsuki? Why did she act hardened all of a sudden? Haruka tried to find a reason, but she couldn’t find one. As if something that she had nearly managed to grasp had slipped through the cracks of her hand.

Amidst her confusion, her phone rang. It was Yakumo—

“Hello?” <How was it?> asked Yakumo directly.

“It didn’t work out...” said Haruka, disappointed. <Did she say she didn’t know?>

“Yes. But there’s no mistaking that she knows something. I tried to pry further, but she immediately rejected it...” Haruka thought she was about to get scolded by Yakumo for failing to gain information.

To her surprise, Yakumo said, <I thought as much,> as if he had known the outcome from the start. Haruka felt dissatisfied as it was like she was being played with on the palm of Yakumo’s hands.

“Hey, did you know from the start that Natsuki-san would refuse to answer the question?” <I had thought that such an outcome was a possibility.>

To Haruka, Yakumo seemed to be making excuses to evade the question. Yakumo must be the type that wouldn’t get discovered even if he were to cheat. Well, not that Haruka knew whether Yakumo was the type to cheat—

“So, what now?” <I’d like for you to contact someone. Afterwards, we’ll meet up.>

The person he wanted to contact must be Makoto, a newspaper journalist. During the previous case, intel from Makoto had been the key to resolve the mystery. This time too, that had to be the case. “Who should I contact, and for what?” asked Haruka, and Yakumo elaborated his plan.

“Why do we have to do something like that?” said Haruka, unable to hide her surprise upon hearing Yakumo’s explanation. Even so, Yakumo dodged it with his favourite line, <You’ll find out soon enough—>

Haruka felt dissatisfied over a number of things, but Yakumo wouldn’t say a word even if Haruka cornered him with questions. Haruka could only respond with, “Understood.”

Yakumo hung up the call after briefly stating the location and timing of their meetup. Haruka’s back grew heavy.

As the person who brought this problem in the first place, she was in no position to complain. Still, she didn’t like being toyed around like this. However, would they be able to find Sakamoto and Asami’s whereabouts with this? While questioning that fact, Haruka stood up from her chair.

- 11

- “Woah...” Haruka reflexively exclaimed at the sight of the building.

This was the abandoned hospital that had become the shooting location. It was situated at the base of a small mountain, with no other buildings surrounding it. The building had four stories, with a portion of the walls already crumbled down, and the window panes broken. Its condition was comparable to buildings in war torn locations that she had seen in the news.

Could it be that the cursed video had something to do with what had unfolded in this place—if one were to think that, the building would appear like it was emanating a dark aura. According to Seiichi, there had long since been rumours about this place being haunted.

Putting aside whether the whole thing about human experimentation had been true, something had to have happened here. This was a place no human should enter. And yet, they had made this place their shooting location. As a result, the cursed video was born; it made sense to think about it that way. Why did Yakumo ask them to gather at a place like this? Not to mention after contacting that person—

“Yakumo-kun,” Haruka called out as she set foot in an area covered by weeds. However, there was no reply.

Has he not reached yet? Yakumo was logical when it came to solving the mystery of a case, yet for all else, he was rather lenient, including when it came to time. Well, that was typical of Yakumo, you could even say it was part of his charm.

Even so, Haruka felt uncomfortable having to wait alone at a place like this. Haruka continued walking and as she arrived at the hospital entrance, she shouted once more, “Hey! Yakumo-kun! You’re not here yet?”

As she thought, still no reply. I have no choice but to wait.

Just as she had that thought, she felt like she saw something move behind the entrance door. That wasn’t all, she also sensed that someone was watching her. Haruka then peered inside.

No light shone through and it was pitch black. Almost as if the opposite end was connected to another world. She briefly tried to adjust her eyes, yet nothing but darkness could be seen.

Perhaps I was mistaken. Haruka exhaled and turned her back to the entrance door.

The cursed video seemed to have caused her to overreact. She needed to calm herself down a little. Haruka tried to take long, deep breaths, but it didn’t help rid her of her restlessness.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard on the ground. Haruka’s shoulders jolted and she wanted to turn. Unfortunately for her, something was pulled over her head at that instant.

It appeared to be some kind of cloth bag. What?

She wanted to take it off, yet her hands were already restrained behind her back. “L-let go!” Haruka yelled with all her might. Mind-numbing fear invaded her, destroying her sense of reasoning. With great struggle, she twisted her body in an attempt to escape the hands that had captured her.

However, it was futile. Her opponent was much stronger and just like that, she was dragged away.

“Help me! Yakumo-kun!” Haruka screamed in desperation. Perhaps she was already dragged all the way into the hospital building. If this continued, she would get dragged somewhere where her screams wouldn’t be heard.

Haruka resisted once again, but the more she did, her muscles grew exhausted and she ran out of strength. Her legs could no longer hold and she ended up being carried while dragged away. Something dark gradually spread within Haruka’s heart. It was probably despair.

Please! Yakumo-kun! Haruka could only pray.

Unfortunately, her prayers weren’t answered. As they descended something that felt like a ramp, she finally felt the hand that had been restraining her release.

Just as she thought that she was freed at last, Haruka was shoved, falling towards the concrete floor reeking of dust. With great difficulty, Haruka tried to crawl to her escape, but her hair was yanked and she was dragged once again.

Her hands were pulled behind her, tied with something that seemed to be a rope. At this stage, she couldn’t make an escape anymore.

It’s impossible now, she thought. Instinctively, her tear glands came loose and tears began to fall.

Never would she have dreamed that one day she’d be tied up like this without knowing anything. Am I going to be killed? If only I had known, I would’ve done many more things. There are people I wanted to see. Things I wanted to talk about.

Yakumo-kun. Haruka called out to that name in her heart.

“That’s enough.” The voice of salvation.

The voice Haruka had been waiting for from the depths of her heart. Yakumo’s voice.

The person who had tied Haruka up went and ran. “Gotou-san! Ishii-san! Don’t let that person escape!” yelled Yakumo.

“Wait!” “Let go! Damn it!”

“Stop resisting!” Groans and brawling noises could be heard.

Haruka, whose face was covered by a cloth bag, had no clue on what was going on. Moments later, with the sound of Gotou screaming, “Take this!” the atmosphere went silent.

“Are you alright?” Yakumo’s voice whispered.

Slowly, Haruka straightened her body and nodded. Then, the bag covering her face was removed. What came to her sight was Yakumo’s face.

“This isn’t a dream, right…?” said Haruka with a sob. Yakumo’s lips formed a little smile and replied, “Yes.”

If only she wasn’t tied up, perhaps Haruka would already be hugging Yakumo by now. “I wanted to come earlier, but ended up being rather late. I’m sorry.” Yakumo said in an unusually gentle voice as he placed a hand on Haruka’s head.

That gesture made Haruka’s heart, once closed up and frozen from fear, overtaken with relief that her tears began to flow once more. I was able to meet Yakumo.

“I’m going to untie the rope now,” said Yakumo before turning to Haruka’s back and removing the rope. Once her hands were freed, Haruka immediately felt fatigue all over her body. She finally had a chance to examine her surroundings.

Haruka turned to find people she recognised, Gotou and Ishii. They were standing at a distance from each other. On the bottom of their feet, a man was lying down with a bleeding nose. He must have gotten punched by Gotou.

There was no mistaking it, that person had to be the one who had assaulted Haruka. Haruka recognised the man’s face. He was—

“That’s right. He’s the mastermind behind this case,” said Yakumo, as if reading Haruka’s thoughts. -

12 -

“What’s the meaning of this?” Haruka approached Yakumo as she stood up.

Lying there was Daichi, a member of the movie circle that they had met at the campus cafeteria. Truth to be told, Haruka didn’t know much about him. Hence, she didn’t understand why he had attacked her at all. On top of that, Yakumo had said he was the mastermind of this case. In other words, not just the cursed video, he also had an involvement in Sakamoto and Asami’s disappearance.

“To explain that, we first need to clarify who the person in the cursed video was.” Yakumo slowly walked and stopped in front of Daichi.

Looking at Daichi from above, his gaze was incredibly cold that it scared Haruka, who was merely a witness. “Who?” asked Haruka.

Yakumo turned towards Ishii and said in a low voice, “Please.” Ishii nodded firmly before turning to Haruka.

“The woman in that video was Sawaki Kana-san.” Hearing the name, Haruka turned in Yakumo’s direction.

Kana had been the name of the woman Yakumo had requested for Ishii and Gotou to investigate. The question that had been on her mind back then resurfaced. “How did you know her name?”

“I told you, didn’t I? The video had a powerful message,” said Yakumo as if the answer was obvious, yet Haruka didn’t understand at all. Haruka emphasised that fact, and Yakumo sighed with an exaggerated gesture of disbelief before saying, “There was a noise that frequently appeared in that video, right?”

“Yes.” “You wouldn’t be able to tell from watching it casually, but with closer inspection, whenever the noise appeared, a set of letters briefly flashed on screen.”

Haruka didn’t realise that at all. Now that she thought about it, Yakumo had inspected the video several times. As it turned out, he had done so to confirm the letters that had flashed on screen.

“So the letters that appeared spelled Kana?” “Yes. Simply put, it was subliminal stimuli capable of engaging with one’s subconsciousness.”

“Is that so…” Yakumo must have felt something was off after watching it once. Hence, he had it replayed several times and had managed to discover the hidden letters.

“Kana-san passed away in the fall of last year,” interrupted Ishii. “Passed away...”

Haruka could imagine that was the case from the flow of the conversation, but upon being presented by the reality of it, her head began to hurt. Ishii took out his memo and began reading, “The cause of death was alcohol poisoning. Someone made a report of a woman lying on the street, but when the ambulance came she was pronounced dead on the scene.”

“How could that be…?” “That day, Kana-san attended her campus circle meeting and drank. Afterwards, the other circle members wanted to go for a second round, but Kana-san chose to go home. However, she collapsed on the way,” said Ishii with a pensive look on his face.

“Is that so...” “She collapsed alone on an empty street, so she wasn’t discovered in time. A really tragic accident.”

“I’ve said this many times, but the video had a powerful message—” said Yakumo calmly. “The railway crossing, alarm sounds, red warning lights. All of these indicated the location where Kana-san had passed.” “I see...”

“Besides that, Kana-san’s name was embedded through subliminal stimuli, and an image of her body was displayed. These carried a message: remember her death.” So that was how it was.

When Haruka had seen it for the first time, she merely thought it had been a series of terrifying images, but the video turned out to have a clear message. She understood that now, yet at the same time, something didn’t make sense to her.

“Don’t tell me, the video wasn’t cursed, but deliberately made by someone?” asked Haruka, to which Yakumo responded with a nod. “That’s right. The person who made it was none other than—him.”

Yakumo pointed at Daichi who was lying on the ground. “Why?” Haruka couldn’t understand why Daichi would do such a thing.

“Out of revenge,” said Yakumo, closing his eyes solemnly. “Revenge?”

“Yes. It’s a possibility that he and Kana-san were lovers.” Yakumo looked at Daichi once again.

“How do you know that?” “I said it was a possibility. Nothing more than my own assumption. Well, not that I don’t have any basis for it. According to Gotou-san’s investigation, they both came from the same high school. Perhaps they had been in a relationship since way back.”

“But, just based on that…” “Of course, I couldn’t draw a conclusion just based on that. However, if their relationship weren’t that close, he wouldn’t have gone as far as planning an entire act of revenge, right?” said Yakumo smoothly.

He had a look on his face as if he had known everything, yet Haruka still didn’t understand. “How could making that video become an act of revenge?”

“Not just the video. He was also the one who abducted Sakamoto-san and Fujimoto-san.” “Why did he abduct them?” asked Haruka.

Yakumo shuffled his hair in annoyance. “I think it’s about time that you speak for yourself. You’ve woken up, right?” said Yakumo, and Daichi slowly stood up. He didn’t try to run nor resist.

Perhaps he had already given up. “What…tragic accident….?” Daichi spoke, forcing his voice out.

The hoarseness in his voice, as if at the edge between life and death, carried with them an intense feeling of vengeance. “Eh?”

“Kana was murdered,” Daichi opened his eyes wide and stared at Haruka. His eyes glinted like that of a ferocious beast intimidating its opponent.

“But, just now...” As Haruka said that, Daichi immediately cut her off, “Wrong! Kana couldn’t drink alcohol. Yet Sakamoto and the others forced Kana to drink during the campus festival afterparty. In the end, they went for a second round and abandoned Kana, so heavily drunk that she couldn’t walk by herself, all alone.”

“T-that’s…” Haruka reflexively covered her mouth with her hand. She had often heard stories of university students getting drunk and even developing alcohol poisoning.

If those involved had drank out of their own volition, they had it coming for themselves. But it would be a much bigger problem if it had happened out of being forced to drink. New regulations have been made recently, and establishments also began having signs recommending not to drink too much in a short period of time and not to force oneself to drink.

Despite those efforts, it didn’t mean that instances of people drinking excessive amounts of alcohol become completely eradicated. Had Kana been one such victim?

Besides, if she really had been abandoned after being forced to drink, that would have been the same as murder, as Daichi had claimed. By law, the offenders should have been prosecuted for charges of causing death by negligence in duty of care.

“Kana was passionate about film and wanted to work in the film industry later on. And those people...took her dream away…” said Daichi. Tears dripped from his eyes. Judging from his reaction, Yakumo’s prediction seemed to be on the mark. Daichi and Kana had a special relationship going on.

Regardless of what sort of relationship, the two must have thought that their time together would continue on forever. Yet one day, their dreams were destroyed without warning—

“That night, amidst her drifting consciousness, Kana called me. I couldn’t decipher what she was saying at all because the railway crossing sounds were incredibly noisy. I asked her where she was, but she didn’t answer…Carrying my phone with me, I frantically searched everywhere I could. But I couldn’t find her...all the while I could hear Kana’s breaths getting weaker and weaker. Do you know how helpless I felt, unable to do anything as I listened to Kana’s final moments before she died?” spilled Daichi as he wailed. Sobbing, shoulders trembling, he wept without wiping away his tears.

Haruka was at a loss for words. She couldn’t find anything to say to Daichi.

“Please tell me one thing,” said Yakumo, watching the crying Daichi from above. Daichi looked up with tear filled eyes.

“What made you choose to go on such a roundabout method like this?“ Yakumo’s question made sense.

Why had Daichi gone about shooting a cursed video with a message, then had it shown to Sakamoto and the rest? “I wanted them to remember Kana, reflect on themselves, and suffer because of it...” Daichi dropped his shoulders listlessly.

So that was how it was. Daichi’s goal was to make them feel remorse by reminding them of their actions through that video.

And yet— “If so, why did you abduct Sakamoto-san and Asami?” asked Haruka.

Daichi’s actions contradicted his words. “Those people still didn’t remember anything even after watching that video. They acted as if those things never happened. So...” Daichi curled his fists tightly.

Hearing his words, Haruka recalled the time when Asami had first approached her to discuss this case. Asami had been terrified and had felt creeped out, but she hadn’t realised the hidden message within the video.

If she had realised it, then she shouldn’t have discussed it with Haruka. While the problem lied in Daichi who wanted to seek revenge, when thinking about Sakamoto and Asami who refused to look back even though someone had died because of their actions…Haruka grew chills until her back froze.

Could humans really become so indifferent towards other people as to reach such a point? Haruka felt like she would never be able to comprehend it.

Even so— “Even if that were the case, I still think it’s wrong for you to kill them,” stressed Haruka.

Yakumo shook his head in disbelief. “Don’t go on killing them on your own,” he said. However, from the flow of the conversation, Haruka felt it was understandable for her to interpret things that way.

“So, where are they?” asked Yakumo. Daichi pointed at a metal door across the corridor.

“Gotou-san,” called Yakumo, and Gotou replied, “On it,” before moving to remove the plank holding the door and forcefully opening it. Lying there were Sakamoto and Asami.

The two were in a state of being restrained; both were tied up with ropes with their mouths gagged up. Their bodies weren’t moving and their condition appeared concerning. Gotou quickly came closer to check on them.

“It’s alright. They’re merely passed out,” said Gotou, lifting his thumb. Haruka felt relieved, but on the other hand, she didn’t understand.

“Why did you lock them up in a place like this?” “You wanted them to understand—don’t you?” Yakumo glanced at Daichi, and Daichi nodded.

“Wanted them to understand?” “Yes. He wanted them to know how it feels like awaiting death in the darkness, all alone, unable to move their bodies.”

“Is that so—” Haruka bit her lips and hung her head.

Daichi’s actions were unforgivable, but that didn’t mean Haruka couldn’t understand his feelings of wanting the two to experience Kana’s suffering even if just a bit. “There is one thing I have to tell you,” said Yakumo to Daichi in a formal tone.

“Eh?” With a surprised look on his face, Daichi turned towards Yakumo. “Ishii-san,” Yakumo gave a sign to Ishii to take something out, and Ishii took out an IC recorder from his pocket.

Yakumo took the IC recorder from Ishii and handed it to Daichi. Daichi was left dumbfounded.

Yakumo began to explain, “There was a strange audio interweaving with the noise in that video. This is the result of extracting that audio with the help of a mixer.” Confused, Daichi pressed the play button on the IC recorder.

Amidst the static noise akin to pouring rain, a woman’s voice could be heard. <Daichi. Please...stop it already.>

Haruka remembered that voice. The same voice she had heard when she had watched the cursed video in the library.

“This is Kana-san’s wish.” “I…” Daichi’s voice choked.

“There’s one more message from Kana-san. Don’t forget about me, okay?—was what she said.” As soon as Yakumo finished his sentence, Daichi wept as he clutched the IC recorder. The sound of his cries felt like they could chip at the spirits of anyone who heard it.

- 13

- Haruka stood in front of the abandoned hospital, watching as a patrol car and an ambulance drove away.

The patrol car took Daichi with them. While the ambulance carried Sakamoto and Asami who had been rescued. Luckily, while their conditions were weakened, their lives weren’t threatened.

With this, it’s all over, Haruka thought, before realising there were more things left unanswered. “Hey, how did you know to suspect Daichi-san?”

She had no idea since when had Yakumo begun suspecting Daichi. “Simple enough. When Sakamoto-san and Fujimoto-san were abducted, their doors were unlocked. Why was that so?”

“Why?” “Because they had opened it willingly. Someone they knew came to visit, so they opened the door and invited the person inside.”

“What do you mean?” “When Fujimoto-san called you that night, she was shaken because of the ghost problem and Sakamoto-san’s disappearance. She must have had her guard up, so strangers or other people unaware of the situation wouldn’t be allowed inside.”

“I see. Meanwhile, Daichi-san was in the same circle and knew about the spiritual phenomenon.” “Pretty much. Well, not that I had known from the start that he was the culprit, but I had already suspected that the culprit had to be someone from within the circle. That was the reason why I had them gathered at that time.”

He must have been referring to their gathering in the campus cafeteria. “So, Daichi-san was acting suspicious by then?”

“That’s right. When talking about whether he had seen a ghost or not, his answer was vague. Said answer was only told after he had deliberated what kind of answer would be able to fool us.” So that was how it was.

Haruka was nearly convinced, but there was something else she didn’t understand. “So the ghost was Kana-san after all?”

“No.” “But Sakamoto-san and Asami saw a ghost.”

“Someone else was pretending to be a ghost.” “Pretending to be a ghost?”

“Don’t you know?” “I don’t know at all,” said Haruka firmly.

“Don’t boast about something like that,” scolded Yakumo. “Who did I ask you to deliver a message to?” “Natsuki-san.”

Before going to the abandoned hospital, she had sent a message to Natsuki per Yakumo’s instructions, saying, <We found a clue that may lead to Sakamoto-san and Asami’s whereabouts, so we’re heading to the location where the video was shot.> “As a result, he attacked you.”

“By that, you mean…” “Yes. He and Natsuki-san were working together.”

“Why?” “We better ask the person directly. You’re there, right?” Yakumo called.

Natsuki slowly walked out from behind the hospital building. Her face was pale and she looked exhausted. “We were friends...” said Natsuki weakly.

“Natsuki-san.” “Kana was my closest friend. I too attended the same event that night. Sakamoto-san and Asami forced Kana to drink sake…I saw it happen, yet I couldn’t stop them...”

Natsuki closed her eyes shut in frustration. The anger building up within her seemed to be directed at herself.

“Even when we were about to go for a second round, I wanted to go home with Kana because I saw that she couldn’t stand properly anymore, yet Sakamoto-san insisted on leaving her be, and we left her...” “Don’t blame yourself like that,” said Haruka, placing her hand on Natsuki’s shoulder.

“How can I not blame myself? That was why, to redeem myself, I told Daichi-kun the truth.” “Afterwards, the two of you orchestrated this plan,” said Yakumo, and Natsuki nodded in return.

Haruka understood the gist of the events that had followed without further explanation. The ghost that had shown itself to Sakamoto and Asami had been Natsuki pretending to be one. With those methods, they had tried to remind Sakamoto and Asami about their mistakes.

Natsuki, who had panicked after seeing the message from Haruka, had discussed it with Daichi. Daichi had then attacked Haruka to prevent their plans from getting discovered. They hadn’t intended to kill, but perhaps they had wanted to lock Haruka in the same place until Sakamoto and Asami repented.

“What are you going to do after this?” asked Yakumo. Natsuki lifted her face. She had a refreshing expression, as if all her doubts had vanished.

“I was wrong. This method will never be able to redeem my mistake. Of course, I’m going to confess about what I have done, and about the events of that day to the police.” “If that’s the conclusion you’ve reached—” said Yakumo.

Natsuki bowed deeply to Yakumo before walking away. This time, everything is truly over—or so Haruka thought, but she reconsidered.

To Daichi nor Natsuki, nothing was over yet. Haruka, too, as someone who had been involved, needed to witness this case to the end. That was how she felt. Yakumo slowly walked away.

Haruka followed after him when a question suddenly appeared in her mind. “Hey. Why did Kana-san call Daichi-san on the brink of her death?”

Her life had been in danger. Why hadn’t she thought of calling an ambulance? “When humans realise they’re at death’s door, they may have the desire to be rescued, but at the same time, they wish to rely on those dear to them.”

“I suppose you’re right...” Even when she had been attacked by Daichi, within her heart, Haruka hadn’t been thinking about contacting the police nor an ambulance, instead seeking help from someone else.

Her face heated up at the memory. “What are you spacing out for? Come on, let’s go.”

Disregarding Haruka’s feelings, Yakumo briskly walked away. “Wait for me!”

Haruka could only bury her feelings and ran after Yakumo. -

Translation Notes [1] Yutori Seidai (ゆとり世代）’Laid back generation’, a term to describe the Japanese people who went to elementary and middle school between the 1980s and early 2000s, in which the education at that time focused on creative development and self learning, such that the generation was claimed to be less competitive.

#shinrei tantei yakumo #psychic detective yakumo #shinrei tantei yakumo translation #psychic detective yakumo translation #yakumo saitou #saitou yakumo #manabu kaminaga

[leftersteindraws]

my (rather belated) impression of this year's Special Mystery Opera - Psychic Detective Yakumo stage play!

I say that but it's just me trying to cram scenes I liked with Yakumo as much as possible into the canvas lol

I feel that the production is the definition of "never let them know your next move" because I didn't know what to expect given the unusual stage layout this time around, but they really went ahead and utilized it to the fullest! And the lively direction that this adaptation took is still so refreshing to see.

#psychic detective yakumo #shinrei tantei yakumo #yakumo saitou #saitou yakumo #mikoshiba gakuto #its so surreal to have sat on 2nd and 3rd rows this time around #feels delusional at this point but im still hoping theyd release a dvd #one can dream #if not thats fine too as long as they still do well enough to keep making more #lefterstein rambles

[melodiusicons]

296 100x100 rp icons of Yakumo Saitou from Psychic Detective Yakumo

Character: Yakumo Saitou

Fandom: Psychic Detective Yakumo

Gender: Female

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15yUn2WZzmXsdC12FP-XUjlguoDpSKh68?usp=sharing

Please reblog this post if you use these icons to help them spread, thank you!

Full sized icons are available in the link as well.

These icons are free to edit however you wish, but please credit me and link to the original post somewhere in your about and do not claim credit for making the original icons!

If you enjoyed these icons, please consider hiring me for a commission or donating to my pay/pal/.me at /marirueda!

These icons are entirely from the manga.

These icons were commissioned by @fightingthetides​! Thank you for your patronage, and if you’re interested, please consider commissioning me for icons!

Preview:

#yakumo saitou #psychic detective yakumo #psychich detective yakumo icons #yakumo saitou icons #rp icons #anime rp #manga rp #source: manga #gender: male #age: adult

[bianca-dark-wolf]

#manga #shinrei tantei yakumo #manga cup #yakumo saitou #suzuka oda #haruka ozawa #my posts #mangaedit

[sachi]

☆ Tsukamoto Yakumo // School Rumble ☆ 1/8 / Good Smile Company ☆ October 2005 ¥4,400 ☆ Sculpt Saitou Fumiki

#yakumo tsukamoto #school rumble #good smile company #saitou fumiki #scale

[mayscarlet86]

Babies Anime Characters

Shoto Todoroki | My Hero Academia

Yakumo Saitou | Psychic Detective Yakumo

Yūsuke Fujisaki / Bossun | Sket Dance

Hotaru Tomoe | Sailor Moon

Tanjiro Kamado & Nezuko Kamado | Demon Slayer

Edward Elric & Alphonse Elric | Fullmetal Alchemist

Ichigo Kurosaki | Bleach

Hazama Kuroo | Black Jack

Shinichi Kudo | Detective Conan

Kagome Higurashi & Sōta Higurashi | InuYasha

#guys anime #girls anime

[almurz]

Artwork for "Psychic Detective Yakumo Initial Files".

#Psychic Detective Yakumo #Shinrei Tantei Yakumo #illustration #Yakumo Saito #Yakumo Saitou #official art #Twitter #video #monochrome

[bookishdungeon]

Psychic Detective Yakumo #1

Judul buku: Psychic Detective Yakumo—The Red Eye Knows  Penerbit:  Penerbit Clover Penulis:  Manabu Kaminaga Dicetak:  2016 Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Untuk berkonsultasi mengenai temannya yang terlibar dalam peristiwa aneh, Haruka mengunjungi “Asosiasi Penelitian Film” karena mendengar kabar tentang keberadaan lelaki yang memiliki kekuatan spiritual di sana. Namun, yang dijumpainya justru seorang anak muda kurus dengan pandangan mengantuk dan rambut acak-acakan. Apakah Haruka akan berhasil melakukan konsultasi sesuai yang direncanakannya?!

Yakumo Saitou, anak muda yang memiliki kemampuan melihat arwah orang mati berkat mata kirinya yang berwarna merah, menghadapi berbagai kasus aneh dengan gaya nyentrik. Kasus penyiksaan dan pembunuhan mahasiswi, terowongan berhantu dan pembunuhan dengan kamuflase bunuh diri… semua berhasil dipecahkannya dengan baik! Namun, ada sesosok misterius yang membayanginya…

*

Pada serial pertama author akan membahas mengenai kover dari novel karangan Kaminaga-sensei yang dimana kebanyakan dari seluruh serial terjemahan Indonesia ini kovernya adalah sosok pemeran utama yaitu—Yakumo Saitou dengan memperlihatkan mata kirinya yang merah.

Di setiap serial novel Yakumo ini akan terbagi menjadi beberapa bab yang dimana disetiap bab akan menceritakan sebuah kasus yang akan melibatkan Yakumo dan Haruka tentunya. Dan selama perjalanan novel ini, tidak akan luput dengan kisah romantis dari mereka berdua. Yakumo yang tipikal cueknya setengah mampus dan Haruka yang memiliki keinginan sangat tinggi, sampai-sampai Yakumo terkadang jengah dengan sikap gadis tersebut.

Mungkin cerita ini akan lebih menegangkan kalau sudut pandangnya diceritakan menggunakan sudut pandang masing-masing karakter, karena author sangat penasaran pandangan Yakumo terhadap Haruka sendiri. Sedangkan yang hanya menggunakan sudut pandangan karakter, terletak di kasus tambahan yaitu menggunakan karakter Haruka.

Sekian reviewnya dan tetap stay tune di IG @book.dungeon untuk update review buku--buku menarik tentunya. 

#psychic detective yakumo #anime #penerbit clover #manabu kaminaga #light novel #japan novel #yakumo saitou #haruka ozawa #light novel series #bookish #bookish tumblr #bookish indonesian #bookish is life

[dominika-riko]

Manga Coloring - Shinrei Tantei Yakumo - Yakumo Saitou

#manga #anime #coloring #animeboy #dominika #shinrei tantei yakumo #yakumo #yakumo saitou

[angelemcuti]

I posted this one before but might as well.

#Shinrei tantei yakumo #Psychic detective Yakumo #Saito Yakumo #Saitou Yakumo #Yakumo Saito #Yakumo Saitou

[crimsonstonetranslations]

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo Another Files - The Dead’s Wish - epilogue

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo novel translation

Another Files - The Dead’s Wish

( first | previous )

epilogue - afterwards

-

Haruka sat on the chair with nerves on edge.

Despite having participated in recitals many times, she could never get used to them.

From the stage lit by the spotlight, her eyes wandered across the audience seats.

Lights in the audience seating area had been dimmed, so even if she saw people enter, she wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.

Haruka had informed Yakumo about this recital, yet Yakumo’s response had remained vague to the end.

It wasn’t clear whether he would come.

Considering the Yakumo that Haruka knew, that man likely wouldn’t come to watch her recital. That was Haruka’s thought.

Yet on the other hand, she had hopes that perhaps Yakumo might come.

Rather than feeling uncertain like this, she should’ve forced Yakumo to give a definite answer, but it was too late for regret now.

Haruka turned towards Watanabe, sitting at the end of the same row as her.

While other members were occupied with checking their music scores for the final time, or adjusting their musical instruments, Watanabe was repeatedly checking the audience.

He might have had the same thoughts as Haruka.

The envelope Aki had returned the other day must have contained tickets to today’s recital.

Watanabe appeared concerned, but Aki should be somewhere in the audience. Though she had no basis for it, Haruka felt that way.

While Haruka was lost in her mundane thoughts, the conductor emerged from backstage, welcomed with applause from the audience.

The conductor signalled for everyone to stand up.

Haruka rose from her seat in unison with her fellow orchestra circle members and bowed once towards the audience.

As she sat down, Haruka exhaled deeply.

She couldn’t keep thinking about other matters. Right now, she had to concentrate on the recital.

Throughout the preparation leading to this recital, various things happened that led to Haruka having to excuse herself from a lot of rehearsals, so she honestly had no confidence to perform.

Even so, to the people coming to listen to their performance, such things were unrelated.

Besides, this was an orchestra performance. Things wouldn’t get solved by blaming herself over mistakes she made.

She had to play to the best of her ability.

As if waiting for Haruka to firm her resolve, the conductor then lifted his baton.

Everyone audibly drew their breaths in unison.

While tense, Haruka liked this moment.

The moment when a recital was about to start.

The conductor swung his baton.

With it, the performance began.

***

After the recital was over, from the corner of her eye Haruka could see a few members who had been talking with their instruments on hand began stowing away their equipment.

The recital itself had safely ended without trouble.

However, the dance routine—included due to the fact that this had been a recital on the campus festival—had been a complete disaster.

Haruka wasn’t particularly great at coordinating her body to begin with, and her lack of practice had made it worse.

She had remembered the moves, yet her movement had been so stiff even she herself could tell.

In her panicked attempts of adjusting her tense body, Haruka had ended up tripping on her own foot, falling down spectacularly as a result.

An utter failure.

Laughter exploded from the audience, and Haruka had felt as if her face was spewing fire.

“Ozawa-san, you really stood out back there.”

“What a splendid way to fall down.”

Upon returning backstage, she was teased relentlessly by other members.

Absolutely horrible—

Furthermore, despite being an orchestra circle, they had to perform a mysterious dance popularly seen on a television drama.

Not to mention they had to wear cat ears—

Even though they did this every year, this was the first time Haruka wanted to run away from her responsibilities.

Prior to the recital, she had been curious whether Yakumo had attended. But now, for the first time she hoped that he hadn’t.

“I’ll be on my way,” Having finished packing her belongings, Haruka left the waiting area.

The others had still been mocking her over her falling incident, so she promptly escaped with a bitter laugh.

She glanced at her watch.

There wasn’t much time left.

After this, she was going to watch the theatre circle’s stage play held at the auditorium.

The timing was barely enough.

Haruka began running faster towards the campus auditorium, but stopped her steps in front of the campus courtyard.

She witnessed Aki’s figure, sitting on a bench just like when Haruka had seen her for the first time.

Next to her was Watanabe.

He was still holding onto his musical instrument.

After the recital had ended, he must have ran after Aki who had been watching the performance.

Haruka couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but a smile faintly appeared on Aki’s face.

Haruka felt relieved and smiled as well without realising.

Uh oh, now’s not the time to space out. I’m going to be late.

Haruka quickly headed to the auditorium.

Yakumo had already been waiting for her in front of the entrance.

”You’re slow,” he said with a sigh upon seeing Haruka.

“Sorry,” apologised Haruka sincerely.

At that moment she noticed familiar faces.

Gotou and Ishii were next to Yakumo.

“Hey,” Gotou shouted as he casually waved. On the other hand, Ishii called out to her, purposely dragging out his words, “Haruka-chaaan!”

“So Gotou-san and Ishii-san came along too.”

“That’s right. Since we’ve been dragged to work on this and that, I thought we might as well come to watch.” replied Gotou.

It was true that Gotou and Ishii had been a great help during the theatre circle case. So it would be understandable for them wanting to know how things were going afterwards.

She understood that, yet at the same time, a question she had long since forgotten about resurfaced.

“By the way, what happened to Iida-san afterwards?”

Iida had been the culprit that had deliberately collapsed the set and injured Tomoko.

“He obediently admitted to his actions now. The charges are for bodily harm.”

“That’s a relief to hear.”

“Then, Daichi will soon be handed over to a prosecutor.”

“Is that so...”

Various feelings muddled within Haruka.

Daichi’s lover had practically been murdered. Haruka understood the depths of his resentment and grief. However, Daichi had chosen the wrong path by pursuing revenge.

While he deserved punishment, the whole thing had left an unpleasant taste.

“Also, I think Sakamoto and Fujimoto will be prosecuted for charges of causing death by negligence in duty of care.”

“Eh?”

“Because of testimonies from Daichi and that student named Natsuki, they finally admitted to it as well.”

Haruka’s heart felt lighter after hearing Gotou’s explanation.

They were going to be prosecuted, but most importantly, they had admitted to their actions, a sign that they had the willingness to repent.

Haruka felt it was a salvation that they could at least obtain.

“Just how long are you guys planning to hang around here?” asked Yakumo, returning Haruka to her senses.

If they didn’t hurry, the stage play would soon begin.

All of them quickly entered the auditorium.

It was free seating, but because they had come in late, they had to sit all the way at the back. Luckily, they managed to secure four adjacent empty seats.

Yakumo sat closest to the aisle. Next to him consecutively were Haruka, Ishii, and then Gotou.

“Is Haruka-chan’s circle going to do a recital or the like as well?” asked Ishii when the situation grew calmer.

What Haruka had just forgotten returned to her mind.

“Ah, it was already over.”

“Is that so...I would’ve wanted to go and watch...” Ishii hung his head in regret.

Such a huge disaster wasn’t something Haruka wanted to show.

“Ishii-san, in my opinion, you should be grateful you didn’t go to watch it,” added Yakumo.

“Why?” Ishii asked in return.

“Not only was she wearing cat ears at that age, she also performed a dance that made me wanted to close my eyes, and then fell spectacularly to top it all off—”

So he did come watch after all!

Haruka was happy that Yakumo had come to watch her recital. Yet at the same time, she was embarrassed by the fact that Yakumo had seen her in such a state.

“No…that...”

Haruka wanted to make excuses, but Yakumo held his index finger against his mouth and shushed. “Sshh.”

The audience seat lights had already been dimmed.

Haruka felt troubled by various things, but for now she decided to simply concentrate on the stage play.

Haruka then turned her eyes towards the stage—

#shinrei tantei yakumo #psychic detective yakumo #shinrei tantei yakumo translation #psychic detective yakumo translation #yakumo saitou #saitou yakumo #manabu kaminaga

[leftersteindraws]

Happy birthday Yakumo! as always, thank you for everything.

Let's see…this year is the 12th streak? Well, I try to experiment with different things year by year…overall I think I'm pretty happy with this year's outcome. Also, this year's guest character is Nao!

I'm also grateful to everyone who contributed to the countdown arts! Having mostly staying in my little corner of self made content it was fun to see other artistic takes of Yakumo that isn't mine.

Here's to a good one for years to come.

All 2023 countdown arts:

D-5

D-4

D-3

D-2

D-1

#psychic detective yakumo #yakumo saitou #saitou yakumo #shinrei tantei yakumo

[cercasinomeworld]

FAVORITE ANIME AND MANGA SHIPS pt.8

Zeref e Mavis - Fairy Tail

Elfman e Evergreen - Fairy Tail

Sting e Yukino - Fairy Tail

Loki e Aries - Fairy Tail

Tsuyoshi e Yukiko - Nijiiro Days

Yakumo e Haruka - Psychic Detective Yakumo

Akihito e Mirai - Kyoukai no kanata

Favaro e Amira - Shingeki no bahamut

Charioce e Nina - Shingeki no bahamut

Bacchus e Sofiel - Shingeki no bahamut

#anime couples #anime ships #fairy tail #zeref dragneel #mavis vermillion #zervis #elfman strauss #evergreen #elfever #sting eucliffe #yukino aguria #stingyu #lories #nijiiro days #tsuyoshi naoe #yukiko asai #tsuyoshi x yukiko #psychic detective yakumo #yakumo saitou #haruka ozawa #yakumo x haruka #kyoukai no kanata #akihito kanbara #mirai kuriyama #mirai x akihito #shingeki no bahamut #favaro leone #amira #favaro x amira #charioce x nina

[mangacover-collection]

~ Shinrei Tantei Yakumo ~

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo English: Psychic Detective Yakumo Japanese: 心霊探偵 八雲

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo tells the story of a college student, Saitou Yakumo, who was born with different eye colors. His red left eye gives him the special ability to see ghosts and spirits. He believes ghosts and spirits are bound to earth because of a certain 'cause' and simply eliminating that 'cause' will let those spirits will rest in peace. Being asked for help by Ozawa Haruka, they begin the investigation together.

Author: Manabu Kaminaga (Story), Suzuka Oda (Art) Genres: Mystery, Horror, Romance, Shoujo, Supernatural Volumes: 14 Chapters: 65 Status: Finished

Tell me what’s your favourite cover, ships and favourite character if you’d like :D

Manga Series - Masterlist

#心霊探偵 八雲 #shinrei tantei yakumo #psychic detective yakumo #manabu kaminaga #suzuka oda #anime #manga #cover #japanese cover #description #collection #volumes #chapters #yakumo saitou #haruka ozawa #kazutoshi gotou #yuutarou ishii #nao saitou #hideyoshi hata #makoto hijikata #ayaka ozawa

[kahixxi]

#saitou #saitou yakumo #saito #shinrei tantei yakumo #psychic detective yakumo #manga #shoujo manga #mangacap #manabu kaminaga #suzuka oda #so damn sexy #completed series #what a bad guy #handsome

[niulilimoon]

Psychic Detective Yakumo vol. 10 File. 02

1.

Haruka went out of the house quickly after getting ready.

Train was over. She went to the other side of the station and went to the main street to catch a taxi.

Haruka who got into the taxi sat in the back seat and told the driver the destination to the hospital.

ー Please, be safe.

Haruka could only pray in the taxi which started while making the engine sound resound.

She looked at the view out the window.

The townscape that should be familiar to her felt like another world.

Speaking of which, it happened before.

That was when Isshin was stabbed.

At that time too, she was looking forward to the safety of Isshin while looking at the car window like this.

But that feelings did not reach him.

He survived but got into a state of brain death, after that he left everyone. Maybe Gotou, too...

ー No way !

Haruka screamed in her heart, driven away the thoughts in her head.

She received a notification from Ishii that Gotou had been in an accident, and rushed out like this, but she did not understood anything in detail.

Rushing to the hospital, she was in pain, but was determinated that Gotou would take over, saying, "Aren't you exaggerating ?"

Haruka tried to calm her mind by thinking so, but the more she did that, the more anxiety came from the back of her chest.

ー Faster.

Haruka prayed while holding her sweating palms.

It was late at night, the road was vacant, and she arrived at the hospital in about ten minutes.

The front entrance was off. Most of the electricity in the window of the patient's room was also off.

The hospital at night, by itself, was a source of anxiety.

Haruka headed for the nighttime entrance.

She informed the security guards about the meeting but her words get stuck when they asked about her relationship with Gotou.

"If you are not a relative, just…"

The security guard said, frowning.

ーI am not likely to get there if I make a fuss here. I wonder if I can only wait outside.

When she thought so, she was called out.

It was Yakumo.

"Yakumo-kun !"

Haruka raised her voice, relieved.

"You came too"

"Yes. Ishii-san get in touch."

Yakumo answered "I see" and went to the security guard, exchanged some words, and came back with the two people's admission pass.

She did not know what he said, but with this she could get inside.

Haruka received her admission pass and, with Yakumo, walked into the hospital through the night entrance.

"How are Gotou-san's conditions ?"

She asked Yakumo, while walking in the dim corridor.

"I just got a message that he had an accident, I do not know the details."

Yakumo's tone did not have the usual crispness.

Although it did not show on his expression, Yakumo was probably puzzled.

They were two people which quarrelled when they met, but it was because they had a relationship of trust.

Gotou had a special existence for Yakumo.

"I'm sure it will be fine"

When she got into the elevator, Haruka said like a soliloquy.

"I don't know"

Yakumo had a small breath.

Until he understood the situation, Yakumo did not say a thing. But in such a case, his attitude made this very uneasy.

In addition, Isshin floated in her mind. Why was her idea inclined only to the bad ones ?

They got off the elevator, followed the long corridor, and went to the waiting room.

The sofa was lined up, and the room was bright with light, but this did not mean that her anxiety had disappeared.

"Yakumo-chi. And, Haruka-chan"

Ishii, who was sitting on the sofa in the corner of the room, stood up with a loud voice.

"Ishii-san"

Haruka, with Yakumo, walked up to Ishii.

"I am sorry to contact you so late"

Ishii politely lowered his head.

It was not a thing to apologize for. Both Haruka and Yakumo would not had known about the accident if Ishii did not contact them.

Still, it was like a  habit of Ishii to apologize this way.

"Not at all. Thank you for contacting me."

"So, how are the conditions of Gotou-san ?"

Yakumo said, interrupting Haruka 's words.

mmediately after that, Ishii's expression became cloudy.

The unpleasant feeling that was in Haruka swells greatly.

"For the time being, the surgery is over. His life is safe but now he is in the intensive care unit with Atsuko-san."

"I'm so glad…"

Haruka unintentionally leaked her voice.

If his life was saved, then it was a relief.

"Right…"

When Ishii raised his voice, he dropped his gaze.

This reaction...

In Haruka, the anxiety that was about to swell expanded at a stretch, and her body trembled.

“It seems like he’s still unpredictable. According to the doctor, tonight is a critical point.”

Ishii's voice had changed, like he was about to cry.

"That's…"

No more words came out.

Wasn't this a reproduction of Isshin ? Something cold came into her heart. Her head was so dizzy that she couldn't stand.

When she looked at Yakumo, he stood there with the same expression as usual.

Although pretending to be calm, the air released from Yakumo was clearly different from usual. Was he angry, sad or lamented? What was Yakumo thinking now ?

The waiting room was wrapped in heavy silence.

How long had it been ? The door opened and someone came into the room.

That was Gotou's wife, Atsuko. Gauze was affixed to her forehead as if she was injured.

Even though it was a tough time, there was no sign that Atsuko was upset, and she walked straight here.

''Everyone. I'm sorry to bother you.''

Saying that, Atsuko bowed politely.

''No, that's... More than that, what about Gotou-san ?''

Ishii asked with a confused expression.

"As the doctor said, he didn't regained his consciousness. Tonight is crucial."

Atsuko said again.

The reason why Ishii dared to ask Atsuko was that, perhaps, he had the expectation that the situation would be completely different and what he heard earlier was a mistake.

That was evidence, and Ishii seemed to be very discouraged and dropped his shoulders.

"What should I do …"

Ishii muttered to himself.

uka had the same feeling. She wanted to do something for Gotou, but she was helpless.

"I can only leave my husband to the doctor."

Atsuko said patiently.

Yes, that was right. She knew this in her head, but she couldn't calm her heart.

"More than that, let me tell you about Nao..."

Atsuko bowed again.

Did it mean that she wanted to take care of Nao while Gotou was in the hospital ?

She thought, but she felt that it was different from that.

"Did something happen to Nao?"

When Yakumo asked, Atsuko nodded big.

"She went missing."

Atsuko's words echoed in the waiting room.

Again, the area was swallowed by the silence.

"What does that mean ?"

After a while, Yakumo asked with a frown.

"This man, he got in an accident as he chased after Nao which jumped off the house."

Looking back at the sudden heard voice there was the figure of Eishin.

It felt ominous to see Eishin in his robe at the hospital, but this was not the time to feel concerned about it.

"What do you mean ?"

When Haruka asked, Eishin nodded "Hm-hm" and opened his mouth.

"It's just a guess, but Nao is haunted by a ghost. I think she lost her sanity and left the house.  Otherwise, I can't explain Nao's actions."

"Then, after all …"

Today, Gotou asked if Nao might be possessed by a ghost.

Yakumo's left eye couldn't see it, so we didn't know for sure, but he was probably obsessed with something.

"Sorryー"

Eishin bowed deeply.

"Why do you need to apologize?"

Yakumo asked.

"I think Nao is haunted by a ghost, probably because Gotou was chasing a psychic phenomenon in this apartment."

Gotou also said that possibility.

"In the first place, I was the one who asked Gotou to solve this psychic phenomenon."

Eishin was sad and disappointed.

That must be the reason why Eishin apologized. If he didn't ask for it, neither would Gotou be in an accident, nor would Nao be missing.

He probably was blaming himself, but if he did that, everyone was to me blamed.

That was Haruka's case.

When they got a consultation from Gotou, they had to withdraw because Yakumo's left eye hadn't recovered his sight so he said he couldn't do anything. Maybe they could have prevented it by studying more closely.

With that in mind, her shoulders became heavier.

"Since a search request has been issued, the police should be following the whereabouts by now."

Ishii added.

Although she was grateful for the speed of the action, she didn't think the police's search could found anything.

The reason was clear.

Nao did not disappear by her own will, nor was she abducted by someone. It was highly likely that she was haunted by a ghost and lost her way due to the ghost's will.

In order to find out where Nao went, she felt that it was necessary to clarify who was the ghost and what was his purpose.

For that, there was no choice but to solve the mystery of the psychic phenomenon that Gotou was chasing.

Perhaps Yakumo should had reached the same conclusion.

Haruka turned to Yakumo again.

However, Yakumo simply murmured with an inanimate face, "Is that so ..."

2.

Ishii sat on the sofa in the waiting room and stared at the ceiling...

Gotou couldn't accept visit, so Ishii which wasn't a relative couldn't meet him. He couldn't even enter the intensive care unit.

Yakumo and Haruka were helpless too.

ーWhat should I do ?

He thought about it, but nothing came to his mind.

Although Ishii was not a sharp man, Gotou's accident was so shocking that his head did not work well.

Ishii admired Gotou.

He had the belief that Gotou would not give up to anything and his determination was based on it. He had a noble spirit and he was willing to sacrifice himself for others.

Ishii wasn't any of that.

That's why Ishii longed for it and kept pursuing his back. Without Gotou, he would have long quit police.

It was none other than for Gotou that he was trying to do his best no matter how difficult it was.

The courage and the hard work of Gotou, sometimes, inspired Ishii.

When Gotou needed him, Ishii was soaring.

If Gotou disappeared, Ishii probably couldn't hold back anymore.

Like a tree that lost its roots, he might fall easily

''I...''

Ishii could not stand the anxiety rushing in, and covered his face with both hands and bent his body into a V shape.

He felt that his body was getting smaller and smaller. It seemed that it would disappear as it was.

At that time...

"Ishii-san"

Said a gentle voice

Someone's hand gently touched his back.

As he raised his face, Makoto was sitting next to him, stroking Ishii's curled back.

"Ma-, Makoto-san..."

"I'm sorry. I thought I'd come earlier, but I was caught by a guard …"

Makoto made a bitter smile.

"No, no."

"What is Gotou-san's state ?"

Makoto asked.

When he heard her familiar warm voice, he felt a little less anxious.

"Actuallyー", Ishii explained to Makoto about Gotou's condition.

He also added that Nao was missing, which seemed to be related to the psychic phenomenon Gotou was pursuing.

Makoto listened to Ishii's explanation without any haste.

"I seeー" Makoto murmured when he finished talking.

"What should I do …"

Ishii said unintentionally.

Actually he didn't mean to say this. In fact, when Yakumo and Haruka were there, he was patient so as not to show any weakness.

However, in front of Makoto, he suddenly lost himself.

"Ishii-san..."

"If something happened to Detective Gotou, I..."

He was about to start crying.

The worst scenario crossed his mind

"Let's believe"

Makoto said with a gentle smile.

"Huh ?"

"For now we don't have choice but to believe. Right ?"

It was just like Makoto said.

Even if you thought about the worst and sank before the results came out, nothing would start.

For now, he had to believe.

"You are right."

Ishii nodded back and Makoto smiled happily.

"Now, let's do what we can for Gotou-san."

Makoto said with strength.

He agreed with her opinion. Howeverー

"What can we do ?"

Ishii was really worried because he didn't understand.

"Finding Nao-chan, I think."

"Finding Nao-chan..."

"Yes. When Gotou-san wakes up, if Nao is still missing, I'm sure he will be very angry."

Makoto's words made him feel at ease.

That's right. He was sure a fist wouldn't be enough.

"That's true"

Ishii agreed, but there was not much he could do in this situation.

Searching for a missing person was not something that Ishii could do alone. He could only participated a little in the search activities.

No, it wasn't good to be discouraged here.

Whatever it might be, it was the best thing Ishii could do now to find Nao.

"I will immediately participate in the search."

Ishii stood up, but Makoto controlled him.

"Searching isn't enough."

Makoto said while looking up at Ishii.

"What do you mean ?"

"It seems that Nao-chan's disappearance is related to the psychic phenomenon that Gotou-san was pursuing."

"You're right..."

Although he could not say for certain, Ishii also thought just like Makoto.

"And there is something else."

"What is it ?"

“Gotou-san was investigating the psychic phenomenon that occurred in an apartment.”

"Yes"

Isn't that apartment the same place we went to ?"

"Huh !"

Ishii screamed unintentionally.

As expected, he felt that Makoto's ideas had jumped too far.

They just couldn't say that psychic phenomenon  occured in the same apartment. There were countless apartments in the world.

When Ishii explained that, Makoto shook his head.

"Don't you think the timing is strange ?"

Certainly a coincidence, he felt that she was overdoing it.

"B, But..."

"And remember what Sayama said."

"What he said ?"

"Yes. It seems that there are other psychic phenomena in this apartment, didn't he say that ?"

Upon hearing Makoto's story, Ishii swallowed.

Indeed, he said so. Perhaps, as Makoto speculated, the apartment where Gotou was involved and the apartment where Ishii and his friend visited might be the same.

But then the ghost was not alone.

Something ridiculously big might be going on. When he thought so, he was honestly scared.

"I will try to follow the psychic phenomenon of the apartment again. Ishii-san, you should also keep it in mind and try to follow Nao's footsteps."

Makoto said powerfully.

"Okay, but can I do it ?"

He intended to regain his energy, but he couldn't feel confident.

"What are you talking about? Only you, Ishii-san, can do it."

Then Makoto smiled.

Why did Makoto always believe in weak people like Ishii ? That was strange.

3.

Haruka chased after Yakumo's back.

Yakumo was a fast walker, but today she felt like he was faster than ever. Like he was running away from something.

"Hey. Yakumo-kunー"

When Haruka called out, Yakumo stopped, and glanced back.

Yakumo's face was illuminated by the light of the streetlight.

Although Yakumo was always fair-white, it seemed to be more prominent today. It was not just because it was night.

"What ?"

Yakumo asked back, annoyed.

Perhaps he must had already guessed what Haruka was going to say.

"Isn't there any way to find Nao-chan?"

Haruka dared to ask.

As Atsuko said, the treatment of Gotou could only be left to the doctor. However, if they searched for the missing Nao, they should be able to do it.

Believing that Gotou would recover, he would find Nao by the time he woke up. Haruka felt it was the only thing they could do.

"Ishii-san has arranged for the search."

Haruka suspected Yakumo's words.

"Yes, but it's not like that to us..."

"You should leave it to the police."

Yakumo shook his head a little.

"But..."

"It is not possible to find Nao when looking around blindly."

"That's not true."

"It is impossible."

"Why do you give up ?"

"I'm not giving up. People have their own roles. Unfortunately, we can only wait"

"I can't wait in silence. There must be some way to find Nao-chan."

"What is it ? If you make an extra move, you will be in the way of the police."

Haruka was stunned by the plain words of Yakumo.

In the cases so far, Yakumo had moved without regard for police's movements. Why did he said all this now ?

Somehow, Yakumo's presence felt distant.

"Aren't you worried about Nao-chan ?"

"I am worried."

The voice of Yakumo exuded irritation.

"If so..."

"I understand what you are trying to say. If the psychic phenomenon that Gotou-san was involved in and the disappearance of Nao are related, you think that it may be possible to follow Nao's whereabouts from that line. ''

Haruka gave a big nod.

He knew that, but why Yakumo didn't do anything- She didn't know.

"My left eye can't see."

Yakumo gently held his hand over the eyepatch. His white fingertips seemed to quiver slightly.

"I know"

"Then you understand. I can't see with my left eye, so I can't follow Nao's whereabouts from a psychic phenomenon."

Yakumo said slappily.

His theory was right. But that was not what Haruka wanted to say.

It was true that Yakumo has been able to resolve the incident so far because of the large presence of his red left eye, but it was not the only one reason.

Besides, Haruka knew that Yakumo wasn't such a person who gave up so easily when an important person was in danger.

He kept looking forward without giving up at any time. That's whyー...

"There should be a way to do it even if you can't see."

"If so, please tell me how to do that."

"That's..."

She couldn't reply immediately.

It seemed like a cowardly thing to unilaterally approach Yakumo even though she had found any solution.

"I don't know what you expect, but I can't do anything."

She dropped her gaze as Yakumo looked down.

She had never seen Yakumo being so angry.

He might have realized his own powerlessness.

That red left eye that he hated until nowー.

However, by losing it, he lost his worth. Knowing that, Haruka couldn't come up with what to say to Yakumo.

Yakumo wouldn't want half-hearted comfort, and Haruka wouldn't say that.

"Why do you decide that you can't do it ?"

"I decide nothing, it is a fact. If I can't see it, I can't solve the mystery of a psychic phenomena."

"It's wrong"

"What's wrong?"

“Because ... Yakumo-kun, you hasn't been able to resolve the cases just because you could see it, right ?”

Yakumo had unparalleled insight and reasoning power.

By making full use of them, he had solved the mystery of cases many times.

Even if he could not see this case, if he sorted out various things, he might eventually reach the truth.

“You overestimate me”

Yakumo sighted without force.

"That's not true. Yakumo-kun, you solved cases before the police until now."

"That's what you overestimate."

Yakumo shook his head.

She could hear the sound of his clicking his tongue, as if he was impatient.

He might feel something like irritation that she couldn't understand.

"That's not true"

"Why ? I was able to resolve the case because I had the advantage of seeing ghosts."

"It's not only that"

"That's just it."

"…...."

Her words got stucked.

She couldn't express the feelings in her right now.

She didn't know how to explain it, but she felt that if she said something more, it would hurt Yakumo's heart.

ー Really ?

There was a voice in the back of her head.

The real reason why Haruka shut her mouth was probably because she didn't want to be hated by Yakumo.

That wasn't limited to Yakumo, she feared that someone would dislike her, so she wouldn't said what she really meant.

So far, she had never told Yakumo about her secret feelings.

In that sense, Haruka was the one who kept herself in her shell. She knew all that, but no words came out.

"I can't see, I'm just a person"

Yakumo whispered.

"Everyone is just a person …"

e returned, but it sounds like words in the air.

"That is not true"

"But..."

"Enough"

Yakumo roared and refused further discussion.

Before she knew it, there was an invisible wall with Yakumo.

"Sorry, but no matter how much you expect, I can't do it now."

Yakumo laughed at himself.

It was the driest laughter she had ever seen.

Haruka stayed with Yakumo for a while. Maybe he was waiting for something.

But Haruka didn't know what it was.

After a long silence, Yakumo turned around and started walking.

ー Wait !

Haruka looked away from Yakumo's back without being able to speak a word.

They went throught and experienced various things together and she understood Yakumo's suffering and sadness, but she could not see Yakumo's existence as a nuisance.

Eventually, Yakumo disappeared from Haruka's field of view, as if melting into the darkness.

4.

Ishii took the intersection, which were the scene of the accident.

It was the place where Gotou had the accident.

Site verification had already been completed, but the white chalk mark on the asphalt remained.

The blood pool that appeared in the dark after receiving the moonlight made Ishii's heart buzzing.

Makoto said she would looking for Nao's whereabouts from the perspective of psychic phenomena. Ishii decided to search for Nao's whereabouts from a police point of view and went there.

When he turned his eyes a little further, he suddenly stepped on the brakes and the marks of the tires slipping remained.

The one who was driving the car was Sasaoka, a man in his thirties who was working as a subcontractor for delivery. It seems that he had the accident on his way home after finishing work.

According to Sasaoka's testimony, a person suddenly jumped out in front of him and he rushed to step on the brake, but it wasn't in time.

The tire marks confirmed the testimony.

If he didn't press the brake, Gotou might have been instantly dead. When he thought so, he was horrified again.

According to Eishin, Gotou was following Nao and had an accident.

To be honest, he was very worried when he heard that Gotou would take over Nao.

The main reason for this was that Gotou suddenly became a parent and he wondered if he could be loving.

But, it was only groundless.

Gotou had a deep love for Nao, like his real daughter. This feeling has been transmitted to him even from afar.

Recently, there was many painful cases where a real parent killed his child, but Gotou threw himself out without hesitation in order to protect Nao, who was not his daughter.

He had to find Nao, for Gotou.

Although he made this decision, he really did not know where to start.

"You came after all"

Suddenly, a voice called out and Ishii bounced around.

There stood Miyagawa's figure.

He put his hands in his pants pocket and hold an unlit cigarette.

"Mi, Miyagawa-san !"

"I'm surprised too. I'm not a ghost"

"What ? Ghosts ?"

"I don't know."

He slammed Ishii's shoulder.

"That's right."

"So, how is Gotou ?"

When Miyagawa asked, Ishii suddenly dropped his eyes.

Honestly, he had to explain the reality that he did not want to believe. Still, he couldn't keep silent, so he told him about the current situation.

"He's okay."

As soon as he finished listening, Miyagawa murmured.

Why, after hearing of the story just now, how could he be so optimistic, Ishii could not believe the nerve of Miyagawa.

"B, But..."

"Gotou is not a person who can be killed by a car, isn't he ?"

"I want to think so …"

"Don't mess with me, believe me now. Then I'll be jealous of him again."

Miyagawa pulled Ishii's shoulders.

Even though he was small, his arm was very powerful.

He decided to believe that Gotou would recover, but apparently he couldn't give up his pessimistic thoughts.

That was confirmed by Miyagawa's words again.

He couldn't do this. It was as Miyagawa said.

"Yes !"

Ishii replied in a loud voice.

Miyagawa said, "This face is better," he smiled with a big smile and struck Ishii's shoulder.

"Really. He had been a caring bastard for a long time."

After his grumble, Miyagawa lit a cigarette.

He was totally encouraged, but now he remembered that Miyagawa was a wise existence for Gotou.

As a detective, he heard that it was Miyagawa who was looking after Gotou when he first started.

Ishii sensed something that wasn't just a former master-disciple relationship from the conversation between them, and he felt envious.

"What are you looking at ?"

Miyagawa noticed Ishii's line of sight and asked, exhaling smoke.

"Ah-... No"

When Ishii hurriedly turned his eyes off, Miyagawa picked up his cigarette and stared at the fire.

"Ah, I see. I was smoking on the street."

With a bitter smile, Miyagawa pushed his cigarette into a mobile ashtray.

He was not a person who usually violated these manners. Although he was pretending to be calm, Miyagawa must be upset too.

"In any case, let's go, hurry"

Miyagawa started walking as soon as he told that.

"Where are you going ?"

Ishii chased Miyagawa in a hurry.

"Don't say that you're out of focus. Gotou's kid is missing."

"Yes"

"I'm going to search that kid."

He had no objection to searching for Nao.

To begin with, Ishii decided to go so far. Butー

"How..."

"For God's sake."

Miyagawa put a hand on Ishii's back.

Pain stretched his spine.

"That-... That's painful"

Miyagawa pointed to a convenience store at the end of the road, without attention about Ishii's complaint.

"There is a security camera."

Ishii was surprised by Miyagawa's words.

Gotou was following Nao and had an accident at this place. That said, Nao should have come to this area as well.

A security camera at a convenience store basically shot inside the store, but depending on the angle, the outside road might even be visible on.

This last years, thanks to such cameras, there had been cases that has been resolved.

If they checked the image of the security camera at the convenience store, they might be able to understand the actions that Nao took after the accident.

"I see. Let's negotiate immediately."

"It's not necessary. I already did the talking."

Miyagawa laughed proudly.

5.

Yakumo sat on his chair,  his gaze drifting overー.

The room of the <Movie Research Club> was surrounded by silence.

Yakumo removed his left eye patch, closed his right eye with his hand, and opened his left eye.

The moonlight came in a while ago and it was slightly bright, but it turned into complete darkness.

He felt that the silence deepened the darkness.

Until now, the left eye had a different view from the right eye.

The soul of the deadー The ghosts of this world.

Yakumo has hated that from the bottom of his heart.

It was not once or twice that he was treated as a monster because his left eye was red. Every time he looked in the mirror, he felt the urge to pull out his red left eye.

Seeing ghosts on a daily basis brought pain to his mind.

Those who died and still wandered around this world had some reason.

Accidents, illnesses, suicides, incidentsーThe circumstances in which each person died were many, but many of them left some regrets in this world.

That's whyー They wandered.

It was almost always a grudge, hatred, anger, or a negative emotion.

He didn't understand the reason, and by continuing to see those feelings, Yakumo's spirit was pushed to the limit.

He didn't know what to do, just frightened by the continuing shadows of ghosts.

There was a vague boundary between a real human and a ghost, and it was scary to go beyond.

If he didn't had a red left eye, he might had been able to spend a more calm life. He thought so countless time. This red left eye was also a sign that he had this man's blood.

Unkai, a man with two bloody red eyes, his father of blood.

Moreover, Unkai was Yakumo's mother, Azusa, half-brother.

Yakumo's body was filled with condensed, cursed blood. Just thinking about it made his spine cold and even nausea.

Even if he thought that the blood of a man who played with other people's emotions and led them to their ruin flowed into his body, he was accustomed.

So far, he had kept his distance from others.

Being involved with him also harmed and cursed the others. He felt that way. In fact, Nao's mother, Akemi, died because she was involved in Yakumo.

He unintentionally injured anyone who touched him. It was like a porcupine dilemma.

That's why he hadn't tried to be involved with love.

A cursed person, like himself, should not think of someone.

If he did that, he would suffer and even the person he had feelings for. It was harder than anything.

Leaving his own gene was synonymous to leaving a chain of curses in later life.

He should end the red-eyed curse himself. That's what he thought. No, he still think he should.

Suddenly, Haruka's face appeared on Yakumo's mind.

She looked at Yakumo's red left eye and said, "Pretty."

Undoubtedly, it was honestly how she felt. She didn't know how much Yakumo was saved by it.

The red eye, which he hated, were described as "pretty", which made Yakumo felt like she was the first to affirm his existence.

After hearing those words, he was able to strangely face his red eye more than before.

As a result, the number of people involved in psychic incidents increased dramatically.

Of course, Haruka, who was a good friend, might collect troubles of psychic phenomena from everywhere, but that was not all.

It was also because he realized that his red left eye wasn't just a curse, it could sometimes save someone's heart.

Of course, not everything he saw could be saved. He tried hard, but sometimes his thoughts didn't reach them.

Even so, he was able to touch some feelings and found hope.

With Haruka, he felt like he hated himself less than before. He thought it was okay for him to exist.

If his left eye wasn't red, how would he be in contact with Haruka ?

Such a question suddenly came to his mind.

If he was a typical college student, would he enjoyed Haruka ?

ーNo.

That was impossible.

He met Haruka after a certain psychic phenomenon.

In other words, if it wasn't for his red left eye, he wouldn't have met Haruka in the first place.

She must have finished her life without knowing his very existence. Even if they were to meet, they would have been in a different relationship.

Because of his red left eye, he was able to know the existence of Haruka's twin sister and touched her heart.

It was not just Haruka.

Perhaps he would never have met Gotou.

He first met Gotou when Yakumo was about to be killed by his mother, Azusa.

If his eye wasn't red, she wouldn't had tried to kill him.

If he could not see ghosts, Gotou would not have been concerned about Yakumo.

It was the same for Ishii and Makoto.

He was able to meet them because Yakumo had a red left eye.

In the end, if he was not for the red-eyed man he hated so much, he would not even exist in this world.

However, he could not forgive that man.

After all, the red left eye was a curse. Therefore, he intended to keep a certain distance from both Haruka and Gotou.

Yetー

Now Yakumo wanted the red left eye that he hated so much.

Because it was necessary to found Nao. But it was too selfish.

This desire for the red left eye was exactly the same as seeking help from the hateful Unkai.

The existence of that man-Unkai should not be accepted no matter what.

Perhaps that was why his red left eye's vision did not return.

Yakumo rejected the existence of Unkai.

That was why he could not seeー.

However, recognizing the existence of Unkai meant forgiving what he had done so far and approaching him.

That'sー...

That was terrifying.

The cursed blood that he had desperately suppressed inside him might wake up and went to the same darkness as Unkai.

If he couldn't get Nao without it, maybe he should.

ー Is it realy the case ?

He asked himself. The answer did not come back.

"I..."

Yakumo leaned on the back of his chair and looked up at the ceiling.

He didn't even know who he was. He wanted to disappear like this.

Yakumo just wanted that.

6.

Ishii was staring at the monitor as if staring at him.

He was in the employee waiting room at a gas station.

He confirmed the image of the security camera at the convenience store from yesterday. As expected, there was the appearance of Nao.

But that was only a moment.

He knew the direction she was walking, but he didn't know where she was going.

So, he decided to divide it up from Miyagawa and walk to the convenience stores, gas stations, and even private houses along the road, checking the images from the security camera.

While marking a map, he followed Nao's footsteps from the scene of the accident, but it stopped.

The reason was simple. She entered an alley with little traffic.

There was no security camera along the way, and he had no idea where Nao was.

But that didn't mean he would give up there. He made a rough guess from all directions and was allowed to check the image from the security camera from one side.

The gas station that he had now was one of them.

Ishii sighed when he saw the video up to the current time on the monitor.

Unfortunately, he couldn't confirm Nao's appearance in the video of the security camera at this gas station.

"It is not good there too..."

Miyagawa shouted next to him.

"Yes..."

"She is hard to find."

Miyagawa grumbled.

Since last night, they had been chasing the whereabouts of Nao without sleeping. He knew how tired he was, but they couldn't give up here.

Of course, other police officers were also searching, but Ishii had a sense of mission that he had to find Nao with his own hands.

"Let's hit the next"

Ishii struck his cheek with both hands to inspire himself.

"Well, when did you become such a hot-blooded man ?"

Miyagawa shook his head.

"Eh ?"

"I thought you were a weak guy."

Miyagawa gave a wry smile.

He did not deny that he was weak. But if he was the former Ishii, he would have been making noise.

It was Gotou who struck back Ishii. That's why he couldn't give up here.

"If you have time to think then stop, and move quicklyーDetective Gotou often said that."

"These are the words I taught him."

"Really ?"

"Well, even if I said it, he wouldn't do it."

Miyagawa stood up and he smiled happily.

In a way, this teaching might be passed on from man to man and that moved his heart.

Thinking that way, Ishii suddenly became stronger.

"Mr. Detective" called the store manager as they tried to move out of the gas station office.

"What ?"

Ishii asked back.

"Are you looking for a young girl around the age of seven ?"

"Why do you …"

He asked the store manager for help in searching for a missing person, but he did not tell him what kind of person he was looking for.

Nevertheless, the characteristics that the manager now said were in line with those of Nao.

"A customer said that she saw a girl walking alone late last night."

"Is that really true ?"

When Ishii draw near, the store manager flinched, his facial expression distorted.

"Oï. What do you mean?"

Miyagawa urged him.

"The customer said that it was strange that a girl was walking alone late at night, so she called out."

"So ?"

"But the girl didn't hear her or didn't reply, she didn't get a response, and she walked away …"

This was a powerful piece of information that he cannot hoped for.

Given the situation, it was certain that person saw Nao.

"Can you contact that customer ?"

Ishii asked while taking out notes.

If he knew his contact information, he could visit and check immediately.

"I don't have her contact, but there."

The store manager pointed to the red light car stopped for refueling.

ー How lucky !

Ishii quickly rushed to the car and presented a police's badge to a middle-aged woman sitting in the driver's seat.

Suddenly, the woman made a dismayed look, but Ishii continued without regard.

"Yesterday, you saw a girl walking alone."

"Yes"

"What did the girl look like?"

"She seemed to be wearing pi... pink pajamas."

No doubt. Atsuko's story was that Nao was wearing pink pajamas when she disappeared.

"Is this girl this child ?"

Ishii took out a picture of Nao and presented it to the woman. The woman replied, "Yes, this is the child," as she looked at the picture.

Apparently, there was no doubt.

"Where did you see that girl?"

"There's a bank just down the road. She was near it."

The woman explained while pointing at the road in front of her.

"Over there …"

Ishii answered while thinking about the site.

"It was late at night, and she was barefoot. I thought it was strange, so …"

The woman's voice did reach Ishii's ear halfway.

Ishii pulled out the map that had been pushed into his pocket and unfolded it.

So far, the places where Nao's appearance was confirmed have been checked. Also, he circled the place he just heard.

The place was also near the apartment where the psychic phenomenon happened.

ー Is this just a coincidence ?

As Makoto speculated, the disappearance of Nao and the psychic phenomenon of the apartment might be related.

Considering that Nao went to the apartment as she was guided by the will of someone other than herself, it made sense.

"What happened ?"

Miyagawa, which came later, asked.

Ishii came here and realized that he hadn't talked about the psychic phenomena that Gotou was involved in, to Miyagawa.

Ishii hurriedly explained to Miyagawa what he has done so far.

"Tell me that first"

Miyagawa struck Ishii's shoulder.

"So-Sorry..."

"Well, it's okay. Anyway, we need to go to that apartment."

Ishii replied, "Yes!", then thanked the woman and the store manager who provided the information, and rushed into the car.

When the foothold that was disappearing was seen again, a feeling of excitement was born in Ishii.

7.

Makoto visited a coffee shop designated for a meeting.

It was a chain store near the station.

Due to the morning hours, the store was not very crowded. When she ordered a coffee at the counter, she secured a seat by the window.

After a while, Eishin went into the store with a pregnant woman.

Upon finding her, Eishin gently raised his hand, ordered a drink at the counter, carried a tray with a cup, and came to his seat.

Makoto got in touch with Eishin and asked him about the psychic phenomenon he had brought to Gotou. Then, as expected, it turned out to be the same apartment as Sayama.

So, she asked Einshin to introduce the woman, Setuko, who first consulted him on the psychic phenomenon.

"Thank you for your cooperation. I'm Hijikata from the Hokuto Shimbun."

Makoto presented a business card.

When Setsuko received it, she replied with a thin voice, "I'm Setsuko Hirota."

It was not because she was pregnant that her face was tired. It was easy to imagine that the psychic phenomena bothered her.

That evidence suggested that Setsuko couldn't stand being alone at her home and was now returning to her parents' home.

"I'm sorry for taking your time."

Makoto first apologized for that.

"No"

Speaking in a whisper, Setsuko shook her head.

Was it because she was a shy person that she doesn't try to make eye contact ? Or was it because the psychic phenomenon were damaging her mind ?

"I have some questions I want to ask."

Makoto said, Setsuko nodded with her eyes closed.

"Specifically, what kind of psychic phenomenon was occurring ?"

When Makoto asked, Setsuko sighed, as if she was half-sick.

"I've said it again and again. I heard weird voices, photo frames and vases suddenly shook like there was an earthquake, and the TV suddenly turned on. "

Setsuko's story was similar to what Makoto experienced in Sayama's room. It was the so-called Poltergeist phenomenon.

The Poltergeist phenomenon was a phenomenon that basically occured in a house, and even when no one was touching it, an object moved, something like a rap sound could be heard, or something emited light. But it happened repeatedly.

It became famous because it was made into a movie in Hollywood.

"Was it everyday ?"

"Yes, almost every day."

"What time of the day ?"

"Time ?"

"Yes. Does that happen at a certain time ?"

"I didn't care about time, so I don't know."

"I see... So then, does that happen when you are doing something specific ?"

Every time Makoto asked more questions, Setsuko's expression grew with more and more tension.

At first, Makoto thought that it was because she remembered a scary thing, but apparently it was different.

"Are you doubting me ?"

Setsuko raised her face and glared at Makoto.

"No. That's not …"

"Lie. You are skeptical, so isn't that why you keep asking those persistent questions ?"

"It's not"

Makoto panicked and denied, but Setsuko's anger did not subside.

"Eishin and his assistant were there too and experienced the same phenomenon, so I'm not telling a lie. Do you say it's neurosis, like my husband ?”

The talk blow and she felt taken aback.

It seemed from Setsuko's speech that her husband didn't believe in the psychic phenomenon. While she was dissatisfied with that, Makoto repeatedly asked her questions, so it seemed that her irritation surfaced.

Perhaps, even returning to her parents' home was not only due to the psychic phenomenon, she might have had a quarrel with her husband.

"And I'm not the only one talking about psychic phenomena."

Setsuko's rumbled and Eishin said "Well well" to soothed her.

"Makoto-san doesn't think that anything Setuko-san is saying is a lie."

Setsuko finally calmed down as Eishin declared in a slow tone.

"My question wasn't correct. I'm sorry. As Eishin-san just said, I'm not doubting you. By investigating what kind of phenomenon occurred, I thought it would be a stepping stone to find the cause. ''

Makoto said again.

Perhaps she was able to recover her calmness once she got angry, and Setsuko replied with a small yes.

"Let me check again. Psychic phenomena only occur during the daytime, right ?"

Makoto made an assertive statement.

According to Setsuko's speech, her husband had not experienced the psychic phenomenon. It meant that her husband is absent when it happened.

"Yes"

Setsuko nodded.

"Did that happen during the night hours ?"

"Sometimes"

"Sometimes ?"

"Yes. When I am asleep, I feel suffocating and my body feels hot. My husband say I'm pregnant, so my hormone balance is upset. .. "

Setsuko said in a soft tone.

It was certain that such phenomen were occurring because Eishin and Gotou had also experienced the vibration and sound.

However, it was hard to say about feeling stuffy or hot.

Looking at Setsuko's attitude, she could felt that she was a little irritated.

"You said something that other people are experiencing it, right ?"

When Makoto asked, Setsuko nodded.

"Can you tell me who ?"

"The wife of Sayama-san next door. And Kimura-san on the lower floor. Maeda-san and Ashizawa-san also said that they heard such a thing."

ー Four houses !

Makoto swallowed in surprise.

Including Sayama's, there were five. It could be said that it was abnormal that such a psychic phenomenon occured in one apartment.

She had been involved in a number of cases involving psychic phenomena so far, but this was the first time that there have been so many at once.

"Can you tell me the room numbers of those people ?"

Makoto noted the room numbers that Setsuko said one after another.

Whether or not the room number was the key to solving the mystery of this case was unknown, but it might be a stepping stone.

"Have they experienced the same phenomenon ?"

When Makoto asked, Setsuko nodded, "Yes."

After listening to her story, Setsuko returned home, leaving Eishin and Makoto.

"What do you think ?"

Eishin asked her.

"To be honest, I can't say anything."

That was Makoto's honest impression.

"Do you think that Setsuko-san's story is a lie ?"

"No. I don't. I'm experiencing the same phenomenon. I have some photos, so there's no doubt that something is going on in that apartment. But …"

"But what ?"

"Applying to Yakumo-kun's theory, it's a prank."

Yakumo always said ー Ghosts were like a mass of dead human thoughts and had no physical influence.

Makoto has also been involved in several cases so far and felt that the theory was correct.

However, this phenomenon was clearly causing a physical accident.

"Um. That's right."

Eishin touched his doubled chin.

After that, she tried to think with Eishin for a while, but the only questions that came to her mind didn't let her go forward.

8.

Haruka went to the hospital aloneー.

Yesterday she passed from the night entrance, so she had various checks, but today it was from the front entrance, so there was nothing to stop her.

She took the elevator at the back of the entrance to the 7th floor.

ーAlthough I can't see him.

As it was now, that feeling was overwhelming.

In the first place, Haruka's appearance at the hospital didn't mean that Gotou's conditions was improving, and the case wasn't resolved.

But, even so, she couldn't stay still without doing anything.

She didn't know what to do with that habit, and her feelings went idle. It was just self-satisfaction that made her visit the hospital.

Still, now Atsuko was in a difficult time. She wondered if she could help a little.

She could buy something or do some chores. If she didn't do anything, she would felt restless.

Before she came here, she called Yakumo, but the ringing tone just kept ringing.

Maybe he just didn't noticed it, but given his recent attitude, it was likely that he had intentionally not answering the phone.

ーWhat should I do ?

Sitting on the sofa in the waiting room, Haruka clasped her hands to pray and bent her body into a V shape.

"Haruka-chan"

She was suddenly called.

When she raised her face, Atsuko stood in front of her.

"Atsuko-san..."

"What's wrong ?"

Atsuko asked.

"Uh ... I hope I can help you a little."

"I see. Thank you"

"Anything is fine. What can I do ?"

"I'm happy, but don't worry so much. To be honest, I don't even do it."

Atsuko's voice was much brighter than she had imagined.

The fact that Gotou was in the intensive care unit seemed like a dream. But it was not. It seemed that Atsuko was simply acting brightly.

"I see..."

Haruka replied in a murmur, and dropped his gaze.

Atsuko looked at Haruka's expression and seemed to guess something.She smiled with sympathy and sat next to her.

"What happened ?"

Atsuko asked in a gentle tone.

The back of het chest got hot. At the same time, a self-hatred was born.

Atsuko cared about her even at this time.

However, Haruka was sick and tired of thinking about herself.

She thought she'd help Atsuko, but it was like pulling her legs.

"Nothing. What about Gotou-san's condition ?"

Haruka changed her feelings by putting effort into her belly.

Atsuko had a good complexion instead of yesterday. Perhaps she might expecting that Gotou's condition has improved.

"From the doctor's point of view, it seems that the worst has passed, but he hasn't awakened yet."

Atsuko said.

There was no feeling of sadness in her profile. In such a situationー.

"You're strong"

"What ?"

"I mean ... Is not it painful?"

His husband, Gotou, was wandering between life and death after an accident. Besides, her daughter, Nao, was missing.

"It's painful"

Atsuko shuddered.

Contrary to her words, her tone was strong.

"Atsuko-san..."

"But even if I was crying here, my husband wouldn't recover and Nao wouldn't come back."

"That's right, but …"

Even if she knew it with her head, that didn't meant that she did with her heart.

People could be overwhelmed by emotions.

"I can only leave my husband to the doctor. I have to leave Nao to the police. I cannot do anything."

A shadow crossed Atsuko's expression for a moment.

Looking only at the surface it seemed that she was behaving cheerfully and brightly. Haruka was deeply angry at her stupidity when she asked her how she was doing.

"…........."

"But that's why I think I have to kept the house proper when they come back."

"Proper ?"

"Yes. If I don't do it properly, there will be no place for them to return. I think it's my duty to protect their place because they can't do anything."

"Dutyー"

Atsuko's words pierced her deep in her chest.

After all, she was a very strong woman. Haruka didn't know what to do.

"Haruka-chan too, you have something that only you can do, right ?"

Atsuko asked, looking at Haruka's face.

"There is one ?"

In such a situation, Haruka felt like there was nothing that she could do.

"There is."

"But..."

"It's not just me who are suffering for Nao, that boy too."

"What do you mean ?"

"You know. Yakumo is suffering too. He couldn't do anything until so far, don't you think he is suffering ?"

"I see..."

That was right.

Yakumo was angry and upset about himself who couldn't do anything. Watching him close, Haruka felt also that way.

"I think only Haruka-chan can save from his suffering."

"I'm not..."

"If he stands up again, he might be able to find Nao. So please. Haruka-chan support Yakumo-kun."

"Honestly, I have no confidence."

Haruka shook her head a little.

"Why ?"

"I don't know what to say to Yakumo-kun."

"I don't think it's a problem."

"Huh ?"

"I think that about our couple."

"Really ?"

"Yeah. We were careful around each other, we listened to what the other wanted to say, but didn't find out what words to say... So, in the end, I couldn't say anything..."

"…......"

"But during the case of Isshin-san, we said what we wanted to say for the first time."

"Did you understand each other ?"

"Slightly. At that time, I finally realized. I thought I was concerned about him, and in reality I was also really afraid of getting hurt."

ー I'm the same.

Haruka seemed to have the same troubles with Yakumo. She was afraid of being hurt. She was reminded of that.

"I..."

A scream echoed, interrupting Haruka's words.

ー What ?

Suddenly surprised, Haruka stood up.

"What are you doing !"

"Stop it !"

"Quick !"

An angry roar echoed with a sense of urgency, and a loud sound was heard, like a smashed dish.

ーWhat on earth ?

The door of the waiting room opened to answer Haruka's question.

"Huh !"

Haruka was startled by the unbelievable sight that jumped in front of her.

Gotou stood there.

The bandage wrapped around his head looked painful. One of his leg was fixed to a cast. He had a drip tube stuck in his arm and a breathing tube in his nose.

Despite this condition, Gotou walk while supporting on the wall.

Apparently, Gotou had escaped from the intensive care unit.

"Nao... Where is Nao..."

Gotou said in a hoarse voice.

His voice was so thin that she couldn't compare it with the usual Gotou, but it resonated strongly in Haruka's chest.

Despite this, Gotou continued to search for Nao.

He didn't care what happened to him. It was definitely strong love that drove Gotou.

"Nao..."

ou spoke once again.

Probably exhausted, Gotou's body was losing its power.

Haruka and Atsuko ran and managed to support Gotou,  which was about to fall, with the help of two people.

The nurses rushed over, seemingly in a panic.

"What are you thinking ! You're not in state to walk !"

One of the nurses screamed.

"Hurry up, we will take back the patient"

Another nurse gave the instructions.

Immediately after the stretcher was brought in, they put Gotou on and hurriedly returned to the intensive care unit.

Looking at this chaotic situation, Haruka was thinking about what she should do.

9.

Makoto, who parted from Eishin, visited a real estate company.

A company called Otone Real Estate, which sold an example at the condominium, had an office at a station three destinations away.

She made an appointment in advance, so when she entered the store, she was immediately urged to take a seat in the corner of the counter.

"Thank you for waiting. I'm the person in charge, Miyama."

A man, who seemed to be in his thirties, smiled and stood in front of Makoto, holding out his business card.

Miyama was a thin-faced man with a smile attached. The suit he wore was slender, and his wristwatch was unbalanced.

"I'm Hijikata, from the Hokuto Shinbun"

Makoto also stood up and offered her business card.

Then Miyama's face looked like "Oh ?"

"You came for the Signpost property, right?"

Miyama said with a suspicious look.

She had made appointment in advance, but the only purpose was to say "I would like to ask about the condominium called Signpost."

Perhaps Miyama thought she wanted to buy the property. It was said that he was confused by her suddenly business card from the newspaper.

"Yes. That's right. But I don't want to buy it."

"Is it different ?"

"Yes. Actually, I wanted to talk with you about some of the strange phenomenon occurring at Signpost."

"Strange phenomenon? What are you talking about ?"

Makoto dared to lower her voice and asked.

"What ? Don't say anything strange so suddenly."

Miyama said with a smile, but his expression was awkward.

"Before I came here, I did a lot of research. There was a psychic phenomenon in that apartment. And not one or two. There are quite a few complaints here as well."

Makoto made an assertive statement.

"No, please stop it. We have nothing …"

"If you say nothing, I will write an article based on the testimony of the resident, but is that okay ?"

She thoutght, it was an unpleasant phrase.

It was a threat. Moreover, the complaints to the real estate company was only speculation. In the first place, you could not post an article about ghosts in tabloid or newspaper.

However, it seemed to be effective, as Miyama gave up after a long sigh.

"It is true that we are receiving such complaints, whether they are true or false."

The talk was heavy, but if she could talk up to this point, the rest would be manageable.

"Specifically, what kind of complaint was it?"

"The electricity suddenly turned on, noise could be heard ... Even if it wasn't an earthquake, things might have fallen. . . Also, children are wandering around"

"I think there's some reason why that happens …"

"Please wait a moment"

Miyama controled Makoto's words.

"I'm sorry, I hear such a story, but I have not actually confirmed the phenomenon."

"Did you go for confirmation ?"

"Yes. Several times ... but nothing happened."

Miyama had a bored tone.

Perhaps the spiritual phenomenon of that property was swayed around for a long time.

"Do you think such a phenomenon is a mistake ?"

When Makoto asked, Miyama gave an affirmative reply, "Well, that's right."

"But more than one person is experiencing some kind of psychic phenomenon. Could it be cleared up by a mistake ?"

"Even if you say so ..."

"Did an accident happened in that property ?"

When Makoto asked, Miyama burst into laughter.

"Please excuse me. It's been half a year since the property was built. Nobody's dead yet. Besides, recently, we have to announce any accident property. The rules around that are well followed."

He had a tone that made Makoto stupid, and there were some parts that make her angry, but she understood what Miyama said.

If it was only six months old, most of the residents would be those who moved in at the time of the new construction.

Even if an accident occured in the property, it must had be announced by now.

She thought it would be possible to find out the cause of the psychic phenomenon if there was an accident in the property, but it did not seem so easy.

But in Makoto's head, another possibility arose.

"What happened before the apartment was built ?"

Even if nothing happened in the apartment, something might have happened before that.

In other words, wasn't it possible to think that the ghost possessed the land, and not the rooms nor the building ?

We often heard about the story that when the land readjustment was carried out on the Torii gates and Jizo, a variety of strangeness occurred eventually they were put back together.

You could find out various things, such as a shrine in the valley, a building or a mound in the middle of a rice field.

It was Makoto's idea. The psychic phenomenon started to occur when something get moved when this condominium was constructed, which should not have been moved.

"There was a shopping center."

Miyama said lightly.

"Eh ?"

"Well, it was a shopping center."

"Is that true ?"

"It's true. Well, about 35 years ago, the company I ran was crushed and left in ruins. Since the dismantling cost was not a fool, it was hard to find a buyer... "

That place was not far from the station and the location was good. She could nodify that it was a shopping center.

Even though it wasn't the town where she grew up, she thought she should remember it if there was a shopping center, but if it was destroyed 35 years ago, it was natural that she didn't remember it. Makoto was not born yet.

"Recently, the railway company revised the timetable and the land prices around that station suddenly increased. So we were told to build an apartment."

"So that's it"

She was satisfied in her voice, but her inner thought was complicated.

When it came to shopping centers, it was hard to think that something could be the cause of the psychic phenomenon that happened.

No, she couldn't said so yet.

"Did any incidents or accidents happened at the shopping center ?"

"Come on, I don't know that was long time ago."

"But don't you think that something happened at the shopping center that triggered a psychic phenomenon in the current apartment ?"

"Maybe it's true, but if you're worried about those old times, you can't build a property. If you go back in the past, someone is dead everywhere."

Miyama gave a shrug.

That was a point for him. If she traced back endlessly, someone was dead in most of the land.

When she thought it was over, an old man working at the desk behind the counter walked up to them.

"That land is cursed."

The old man said with a pot.

Apparently he was listening to the story so far.

"It is cursed ?"

"Oh, yes. So I was opposed to build an apartment over there."

The old man said in a bitter tone.

"Yamashina-san. You don't have to say anything extra."

Makoto held him down, "Please wait", while Miyama tried to drive away the old man.

"What do you know ?"

When Makoto asked, the old man called Yamashina sat on the chair next to Miyama.

Miyama didn't like it, but maybe he decided that it was useless to say any more, so he pursed his mouth and shut up.

"There were various things when they tried to build a shopping center on that land."

"Various ?"

"My big brother was involved in the construction, but during the work the machine broke down, he heard strange voices, and that sort of thing. It was all creepy."

"That is …"

"Somehow it was completed, but after the opening, there was a lot of talk like a child's voice from the guard room, the electricity that was supposed to have been turned off suddenly turned on..."

It was the same phenomenon that was happening in ther apartment now. That would have happened over thirty-five years ago.

If it was the same ghost's work, she felt that he had a tremendous grudge.

"Sure enough, it was crushed within years."

That was how Yamashina concluded.

In summary of the current story, the cause of the psychic phenomenon was that the shopping center was built in the past.

"Hmm ... What happened to the place in front of the shopping center ?"

Makoto asked Yamashina said "I don't know that much", and shook his head.

10.

"Well ... I didn't see her."

A man in his fifties, dressed in blue work clothes, leaned his head troubled.

That was a man named Takemoto, the manager of the condominium.

After that, Ishii immediately went to the condominium and asked Takemoto, the manager, about the whereabouts of Nao.

But that result he heard.

"Do you really don't know ?"

Ishii stuck to it, but Takemoto's reaction did not change at all.

"Couldn't she entered inside without you knowing it ?"

Miyagawa, who was next to him, asked a question from another angle.

"It's an auto lock, so I don't think she could easily enter it."

As Takemoto said, this apartment was self-locking. You couldn't go in and out so easily.

In fact, Ishii were trying to get in from the entrance, but they were called by the manager, Takemoto.

"But when a resident enters, he may be followed by another one."

Miyagawa asked questions without giving up.

That possibility cannot be denied. It was also the blind spot of auto lock in an apartment.

"Well, that's true ... Recently, the residents are also paying attention to such things, so I think if they saw a stranger, they wouldn't let him follow them."

Takemoto said with a suspicious look.

In the past, an outsider slipped through the auto-lock and create an incident with a resident. It was a fact that since then, strict attention has been paid to such things.

He heard that even parcel delivery service had to return back to the entrance and push the intercom one by one.

“And what you're looking for is a girl in pajamas. I'm sure you'll be suspicious if someone like that comes in.”

Takemoto continued with a difficult face.

Nao's outfit was pajamas when she disappeared. She was dressed quite noticeable. A little girl walking like that would certainly be suspicious.

However...

"Still, you can't say there is no possibility."

When Ishii said back, Takemoto's face became even steeper.

"If she has entered the apartment, where is she ?"

"That's..."

"If she went into someone's room, it would had caused a fuss, and I'm inspecting the apartment every morning. If there's such a child, I'll immediately notice."

"She may also be lurking in a place that Takemoto-san does not notice."

When Ishii said, Takemoto laughed as if he were stupid.

"Where could she be ?"

"For example, a plumbing facility."

If it was such a big apartment, there should be such a facility.

"Then, there is a control panel in the underground pit, but I also checked it properly, and in the first place, since the lock is usually closed and I got the key, she can not goes in and out."

Ishii had no choice but to shut up when he was told all that.

However, Miyagawa did not yield.

"It may be exactly as you say. But even knowing it, it is our job to search for her."

Miyagawa said with a stare, Takemoto sighed as if he had given up.

"Okay. Well then, let's take a look around the apartment for the time being."

Saying that, Takemoto started walking.

Ishii looked at Miyagawa and then began to walk after Takemoto.

"It was helpful. I could not persuade him."

Ishii told Miyagawa while walking.

"You don't have to say thank you. This is our job."

The appearance of Miyagawa looked shiny to Ishii.

He started to flinch, but after being trained by Gotou he stayed still.

"You look cool"

When Ishii said this, Miyagawa struck his shoulder.

"Don't say boring things. Our job is to look for Gotou's daughter, no matter what. Think about it."

Ishii responded "Yes!" to Miyagawa's words.

With Takemoto's guidance, they walked all the way through the grounds of the condominium to the underground pit with plumbing facilities where he could not normally enter, but he could not find Nao's figure...

When he came back to the entrance, Ishii's heart was discouraged again.

It seemed that Ishii's guess was wrong and he faced this reality.

"Are you satisfied ?"

Takemoto's tone had something satisfied.

Seeing that look made him irritated for some reason. Apart from that, he didn't feel anything about Takemoto.

He was frustrated with himself.

"Yeah. Ishii. Let's go."

Miyagawa shook his chin and signaled that he should follow him.

shii tried to continue, but should he give up here ? A question raised in his head.

"Uh ... There are security cameras in this apartment, right ?"

When Ishii asked, Takemoto replied, "Yes."

"Can I check the video of the security camera ?"

When Ishii offered, Takemoto looked annoyed.

"Do you still think she is in this apartment ?"

"No. However, from the angle of the security camera, you can see the road ahead, isn't it ? It is certain that Nao-chanー The missing girl, was witnessed around here. She might had passed here. ''

When Ishii leaned forward, Takemoto exhaled a long sigh.

While half amazed, he seemed to be willing to cooperate.

Miyagawa was laughing happily when he saw Ishii.

The possibility that Nao might be in the apartment disappeared, but Ishii felt that he had found a new hope.

With Takemoto's guidance, they moved to the control room and decided to check the image of the security camera there.

Any trivial thing was fine. He wanted a clue about Nao's whereabouts. Ishii checked the image of the security camera with his eyes like a plate.

However, he couldn't find Nao's appearance, instead a dull image was played and car passed occasionally.

Apparently, it seemed that it was completely empty.

His heart really broke.

He was angry at his helplessness and dropped his shoulder.

"Not yet"

Miyagawa took Ishii's shoulders.

It was so powerful that it felt painful.

"But..."

"If Gotou knew that you gave up like this, I don't know what he would say later."

With Miyagawa's words, Ishii's passion, which had been disappearing, rekindled.

It was exactly what Miyagawa said. At this level, he would be sorry for Gotou if he gave up.

"Yes, but ... what should I do from now on ..."

Ishii didn't know that.

"The basis of the detective is the ground."

The ground ー In other words, that was a hearing investigation.

From the information he got at the gas station, he knew where Nao was last seen. He should try to listen to the neighborhood.

It would took a lot of work, but that was all there was to do. Ishii stood up and said "Yes!" in response.

11.

After returning to the company, Makoto set foot in reference room in the basement.

Previously, all the past newspapers were stored, but now they have been digitized and are lined up in the bookshelves only for the last five years.

Makoto sat down in front of the terminal and searched for the place where the apartment was located. If something had happened, it would had get caught.

The search results came out immediately.

There were only one revelant case.

This was the place where all that kind of psychic phenomenon occurred. She was stepping on something, but it seemed to be bingo.

Makoto looked through the article displayed on the monitor.

<At dawn on the 25th, there was a fire that burned down Michishirube, a nursing home in Machida. The remains of the 10 children who were admitted were found in the burnt spots. The detailed cause is under investigation. . .>

From the contents of this article, it seemed that there was an orphanage in that place before the shopping mall was built.

Then, a fire broke out in the orphanage and ten children were dead.

Among the psychic phenomena occurring in that apartment, there were some people who heard the voice of a child.

After all, the cause was likely to be this fire.

This time, Makoto searched for the name of an orphanage called <Michishirube>.

Two corresponding articles were found.

The first was an article about six months before the fire started.

<A resident in the neighborhood reported to the Children's Counseling Center that abuse was being carried out at a nursing home, Michishirube. Currently, the staff of the child guidance center is conducting an on-site survey.>

Makoto breathed involuntarily.

Abuse was said to have occurred at <Michishirube>.

The children's voices heard in the condominium were like the grudges of the abused children.

If so, she felt that the things that had happened so far fit in.

If she took a leap of thought, it was as if the director of "Michishirube" broke a fire in order to cover up the fact of the abuse.

Then, if ten children had lost their lives ー thinking about it, their disgust for the man named Hirosawa Shozo, which was the director of the park, would suddenly rose.

Makoto looked over another article.

<His wife, Kazue-san, found that Hirosawa Shozo, the director of the nursing home Michishirube, was dead hanging from his home and reported it to the police. . .>

ーWhat does that mean ?

For a moment, Makoto doubted the contents of the article.

The content did not change when she read it back. Hirosawa Shozo, the director of Michishirube, committed suicide after the fire.

In this case, the theory that he set fire to the nursing home himself in order to cover up the fact of child abuse became more and more real.

If all of this had happened, it was no wonder that one or two of the psychic phenomena were occurring.

But the problem started here.

Even she understood the cause, if she didn't understood the solution then it would be still out of control.

From here on, it was the area of Yakumo.

So far, Yakumo had not only found the cause of the wandering souls of the dead, but also led them to rest.

The person himself might not be aware, but Yakumo was a light for the darkness of Michishirube.

This was possible because Yakumo had his red left eye, and was collecting the feelings of the dead.

Makoto and the others, no matter how much they scratched, at best they could find out the cause.

There were not enough important pieces to solve the case.

With this, neither Nao could be found nor the psychic phenomenon occurring in the apartment could be suppressed.

She wanted to do something about it, but what words Makoto said to Yakumo would not resonated.

There was only one person who can become a signpost for Yakumo.

However, she was now losing confidence, like Yakumo. She had to do somethingーThe cellphone rang when she was thinking like an old woman.

Sayama's name was displayed.

"Hello"

Makoto answered the phone but did not receive a response.

But the phone was certainly connected. That was an evidence because she could heard a rough breath from the end of the phone.

"Hello. This is Sayama-san, right ?"

Makoto called again.

<. . . It's bad >

From the other side of the phone, she heard the voice of Sayama in a hurry.

It was rare for Sayama, who was usually aloof, to raise his voice so hard. It seemed that there was something wrong.

"What happened ?"

< Why I did not notice until now... It was going to be like this...>

"What are you saying ?"

<I'm sure, the identity of the ghost, it was that guy...>

"Who is that guy ?"

Sayama's words were almost pointless.

<It wasn't a psychic phenomenon or anything. That is. . .>

The phone suddenly hung up.

Who was the guy ? What did he meant it was not a psychic phenomenon ?

Makoto was stunned for a while, but after reconsidering it, she returned to Sayama's mobile phone.

However, the call sound only echoed and it did not connect.

ー What does that mean ?

Makoto was staring at the phone and was driven by an uneasy anxiety.

12.

Ishii was busy listening to the local residentsー.

It was a straightforward search to visit shops and homes near the condominium, he show photos of Nao, and collected sightings.

However, the result was not good.

As the sun got darker, he felt like his feelings were getting more and more depressed.

ー It's not good this way.

Although he tried to inspire his feeling, there was no response so far, it was likely his heart was truly broken.

"Maybe Gotou's daughter might not have come here."

Miyagawa vaguely said.

Ishii also had that possibility in one corner of his head, but he did not dare to say it.

"I agree..."

As he said it, his fatigue suddenly came to his body.

Since yesterday, he had been physically tired from searching for the whereabouts of Nao without sleep and rest, but his mental wear had been great.

Above all, he was disappointed at the fact that his guess might had be wrong.

How many hours did they waste ?

While doing this, Nao might had be going farther and further. No, she might be at risk of life.

Maybe, she was already...

Even when he was standing, he started to feel pain, and the sound of the siren of an ambulance echoed.

The sound was getting closer and closer.

Then, it passed by Ishii, he followed the tail lamp with his eyes, and saw that it was headed for the apartment.

ー What happened ?

After seeing Miyagawa's face, Ishii rushed to the condominium as if to chase after the car.

He fellー.

"What are you doing !"

"So, Sorry"

Ishii stood up rubbing his struck knee and ran again.

When he arrived in front of the condominium, as expected, the vehicule had stopped and there was a crowd of people.

"Excuse-me"

Ishii screamed out the crowds and proceeds to the back.

The first thing that came into view when he came to the front entrance was the blood pool that spread on the stone pavement.

Ishii suddenly closed his eyes when he saw the red-black stain in the setting sun.

However, nothing would start if he closed his eyelids here.

Ishii prepared himself and opened his eyes.

A man was lying on his back.

The blood pool may had flowed from the man's head.

Even at first glance, from that amount, he knew that the emergencies were too late.

"W, why …"

As Ishii confirmed the face of the man who was lying down, his surprise was further doubled.

"What ?"

Miyagawa asked immediately.

Ishii couldn't reply, and swung his mouth like a goldfish in search of food.

"Oï. Ishii."

Miyagawa hit him on his back and he regained some composure.

"This is Sayama-san..."

When Ishii spoke, Miyakawa leans over, "Who is that ?"

He told Miyagawa that he was following the psychic phenomenon of Makoto at the apartment, but he didn't said that the client was Sayama.

When Ishii explained that, Miyagawa's facial expression suddenly strengthened.

"Oï oï. It's too good to be a coincidence."

"Yes"

It was exactly what Miyagawa said.

At this timing, Sayama, which was the client, was dead. He couldn't clean this up as an accident

But Ishii didn't felt only surprised

It was yesterday that Ishii met Sayama. It was not a close relationship, and there are few words that they directly exchanged.

Even so, this person who was supposed to be living and laughing until yesterday suddenly lost his life. He was shaken.

"Did he get killed by the ghost ?"

Miyagawa said with a confused expression.

"That's..."

Ishii had a different feeling.

The basis for the denial laid in the theory that Yakumo always said.

Yakumo, which could saw the soul of the dead, defined a ghost as a mass of dead human thoughts. So it had no physical influence.

At first, Ishii was skeptical of his opinion, but after many incidents with him, he began to feel he was right.

In other words, it was impossible that Sayama get killed by a ghost.

However, the body of Sayama was actually here. In the first place, the phenomenon that Ishii experienced in Sayama's room did not apply to Yakumo's theory.

"He seems to have jumped off."

Voice of onlookers reached Ishii's ear.

Reflectively, he look up at the apartment.

Sayama's room was certainly the eighth floor on the top floor. The height was nearly thirty meters. If you fall from such a place, there would be no more.

Did Sayama fall from there ? If so, was that a suicide ?

ー No, that's wrong.

Ishii canceled his thoughts.

He didn't knew what kind of person Sayama was, but considering the situation they met yesterday, it was hard to think of suicide.

Then was it pushed down by someone ?

He felt that it was a little different too.

Here, the reasoning in Ishii was born.

Sayama was haunted by a ghost and frightened. And, rather than to die, he jumped in order to escape from the fear of ghosts.

However, Ishii had no way to confirm his reasoning. Only one can do thatー.

It was Saitou Yakumo.

13.

"Ishii-san. What happened ?"

Makoto, who found Ishii in the crowd, asked him as she draw closer.

"Ma, Makoto-san. But why are you here …"

Ishii opened his eyes wide behind his glasses.

After calming down,  Makoto explained that she was contacted by Sayama, and she told him that she was worried because he was in a strange situation and she went here.

Ishii said, "Is that so ..." and then turned his eyes.

There were a lot of people in front of the condominium, so it was obvious that something happened. Moreover, the reaction of Ishii nowー.

Although intuitive, she realized that something happened to Sayama. After a moment of silence, Ishii began to explain with a stern look, "Actuallyー".

"It seems that Sayama-san has fallen out of the apartment."

"Fall …"

She imagined something happened, but she was confused by those unexpected words.

“Yes. Probably from the balcony of his room...”

Ishii looked up.

"Then, what about Sayama-san ?"

While asking, she didn't even thought about what happened to Sayama.

"Unfortunately..."

Ishii shook his head to the left and right without force.

ーWhat does he mean ?

Suddenly, Makoto felt dizzy and was likely to fall into the spot.

Ishii rushed up to support Makoto's body.

"So, Sorry"

Makoto immediately tried to stand by herself, but could not.

She didn't felt the force in her body, as if it had been removed.

"Let's take a break"

Ishii moved to a nearby bench while supporting Makoto's body.

"Thank you"

Makoto, who thanked him and sat on the bench, covered her face with both hands.

Makoto only knew Sayama through work, but they were familiar.

Sayama's bright smile came to her.

Contrary to what it looks like, Makoto's body was kind and caring in a solid manner. When they met at the conference room of the newspaper company, she didn't expect it to happen.

She felt as if there was a gap in her heart.

Makoto was more than just stunned by the sense of loss, she felt that a part of her life had been completely pulled out.

The inner part of her heart hurt like being torn.

The pain eventually turned into sadness, and her eyes became hot.

However, she did not shed tears. In order to reward the kindness of Sayama, they couldn't afford to stop here.

"Why, this is …"

Makoto pushed down the emotion of sadness and raised her face to speak.

"I don't know the details yet, but the detective in charge seems to think he likely committed suicide."

Makoto caught his eye when Ishii explained.

ーSayama-san committed suicide ?

"No way !"

Makoto told him, her emotions exploded.

Even though it was not the opinion of Ishii, she felt remorseful for denied him.

However, the feeling that she was not convinced had not changed.

She didn't knew everything about Sayama, but still, he was not a person who would commit suicide.

"I don't think it's a suicide either."

Ishii said, looking straight at Makoto.

Makoto was surprised at his gaze.

Up until now, Ishii was kind, but by that he was paying too much attention to his surroundings, and gave somewhat a weak impression.

But with such a powerful and sincere eyesー.

"Ishii-san..."

"But it's also true that there is no justification to claim it is not suicide."

Ishii distorted his face with regret.

"I don't know if it will be the basis, but when Sayama-san called me, he said something strange."

"Something strange ?"

"Yes. Why he didn't realize. And it wasn't a psychic phenomenon. He was talking about such things."

"It is not a psychic phenomenonー"

Ishii's face was confused.

Makoto had the same feeling. Makoto actually experienced a psychic phenomenon in Sayama's room. Many other people, including Setsuko, testified that they were experiencing a psychic phenomenon.

Besides, it was Sayama who took a psychic photograph. It was Sayama himself who claimed that the photo was not a composite or trick photo.

Then, what did he meant when he said that it was not a psychic phenomenon now ?

The more she thought about it, the more she get lost.

Moreover, after leaving those mysterious words, Sayama died. The question she had until she came here had changed to a deeper one.

"What on earth is happening ?"

Makoto said to no one.

"With Yakumo-shi, at least we can confirm the truth of Sayama-san's words …"

Ishii's words were correct.

Whether or not the phenomenon occurring in the condominium were a psychic phenomenon, if it was Yakumo that could see ghosts, it would be obvious.

However, Yakumo had lost his sight of his left eye.

"After all, I have to ask her."

When Makoto said, Ishii tilted his head and said "Huh ?"

The fact that Yakumo's red left eye couldn't see was a mental thing. In other words, he might had unknowingly refuse to see.

Considering the life Yakumo had walked so far, she felt that it was better for him it it remained invisible.

It was only their ego who relied on Yakumo.

But at the same time, she wondered if it was okay to run away.

You could not escape your destiny. Makoto used an article to accuse her father for the crime he committed because she thought so.

It certainly cost a lot of things. That's why she was who she was now.

Besides, Nao must be found above all. Only Yakumo could do that.

Andー.

No one else than her could support Yakumo in a difficult situation.

14.

Haruka stood in front of a door, who had a plate called <Movie Research Club>.

It was night time, so she was surrounded by silence. There was no student, and it seemed that daytime's noise was a illusion.

She held the red necklace in her right hand, tight.

She got it from Yakumo before.

Every time she opened this door, various things happened.

There were some hard times. It was not once or twice that she was at risk of life.

She had a lot of sad feelings and she didn't know how many times she cried.

Still, for Haruka, all of these were unforgettable memories.

She opened this door when she first met Yakumo.

At that time, Yakumo was playing tricks with cards and was cheating, taking money from other students.

The first impression was the worst.

She thought he was cynic, a cold-blooded man who didn't think of anyone else.

But, it was wrong.

Yakumo wasn't the only person she met when she opened this door.

Gotou, Ishii, Makoto, Ishin and Nao. Also, this door had brought many encounters.

She would had never meet those people if she had a normal student life.

The beginning of everything might had been this door.

However, this might be the last time she opened this door.

When she thought so, her chest became so painful that she couldn't breathe. Still, she had to open it. Even if this ended everything, this was the only thing she could do now.

Haruka was standing in front of this door with that determination.

Breathing out, Haruka opened the door.

Yakumo was sitting on a pipe chair, reading a book.

When he noticed the presence of Haruka, he said "Youー", as usual, with a lazy voice.

Same as usualー That was a terrible feeling of discomfort for Haruka.

"What are you doing ?"

When Haruka asked, Yakumo narrowed his right eye slightly.

"Don't you see ? I'm reading a book."

The same reply as usual.

ーNot really.

"What are you doing at such times, Yakumo-kun ?"

Haruka approached Yakumo.

"At such times ?"

Yakumo tilted his head as if he didn't understood.

Looking at him, a rough and unpleasant feeling spread in Haruka.

ー Really, you don't know !

Yakumo, which had a habit of knowning everything, it was idiot doing this. No, he was running away.

"You know"

Haruka uttered her voice, but Yakumo's expression did not change.

"I don't know, so I'm asking."

Yakumo opened his arms like a freak.

The rough discomfort eroded further Haruka's heart.

"Stop fooling yourself that way. Yakumo-kun, you know."

"What do you want to say?"

"Gotou-san suffered a serious injury and wandered between life and death, but he still escaped from the intensive care unit in search of Nao..."

Even though he shouldn't be in a standing state, Gotou was desperate to find Nao.

He wanted to save Nao without regard for his own life.

"Stupid..."

Yakumo slightly looked down and spit out.

That word set fire to the anger that had been smoked in Haruka. The rough and unpleasant sensation she had felt so far was probably anger.

"What's stupid !"

Haruka's cry echoed in the room.

"Don't make a loud voice."

Yakumo muttered.

"Not just Gotou-san ! Ishii-san and Makoto-san are desperately trying to find Nao-chan, but what are you doing here Yakumo-kun !"

She screamed, leaving her emotions of anger.

She wanted to arrive in it. In Yakumo's heartー.

And she wanted him to notice. What should he doー.

It didn't matter what he thought of her if Yakumo could notice it. Haruka thought so.

She had never hit Yakumo in this way.

Somewhere in her heart she was afraid of being hated by Yakumo. Therefore, she had not touched on the fact that his left eye couldn't see.

Butー.

"Searching for Nao is the job of the police. Even if I move, I can't do anything."

Yakumo shook his head to the left and right.

He still said that during this period.

"Why do you decide you can't do anything ?"

"I can't see them anymore"

Yakumo said.

He couldn't do anything, so he wouldn't do anythingー She couldn't be convinced by such a reason.

"So what ?"

Haruka gazed at Yakumo.

"You know, I can't do anything without my red left eye."

Yakumo put his hand on his left eye covered with the eyepatch.

It was incredibly scary that you couldn't see what you could see until now. He might be anxious and upset.

Yakumo suffered a lot so far, but didn't let it show on the surface.

She felt sorry for not being able to notice it. Wrong. That was not it. She was aware, but she was afraid of being hated and couldn't do anything.

Actually, she should had faced Yakumo from the front sooner.

It might had been possible before. However, the closer she became, the more she became afraid to leave.

So she couldn't say it.

But that was just an excuse. She wasn't not going to make that excuse anymore.

"Why do you decide that you can't do anything ? You can do it, Yakumo-kun !"

Haruka said with all her might.

"You don't know anything"

"What ?"

"Without my red left eye, I'm just a person."

She felt like she was being pushed off. It seemed like he was saying that she should say nothing more than this.

Haruka in the past might had closed her mouth, but today was different

"Yes. Yakumo-kun is just a person."

"If so …"

"It's wrong ! That's not true !"

"What are you talking about ?"

Yakumo tilted his head.

It was no wonder that he had such an attitude. Haruka herself was a mess of emotions. Stillー.

"Why don't you understand ? Whether you have a red left eye or not, Yakumo-kun is Yakumo-kun !"

"…...."

"Even if you can see ghosts or not, Yakumo-kun is Yakumo-kun."

"Don't say anything fancy"

Yakumo suddenly smiled.

That was an empty laugh she had never seen before.

"I..."

"You've been messing with psychic cases so far, because I can see ghosts. No ? If I couldn't see ghosts, I wouldn't have met you in the first place. I could see ghosts until now, so you've been close.''

"That's awful ... You were looking at me that way …"

Along with those words, tears fell from Haruka's eyes.

Certainly, their encounter was for psychic phenomenon, and she gad brought in countless psychic cases so far.

But that's not all. And yetー.

"Are there other reasons ?"

"Surely, I met Yakumo-kun because of a psychic incident. Even after that, I was the one who brought in various cases."

"So you know."

"But ! I was beside Yakumo-kun not because you could see ghosts !"

Haruka shouted loudly.

As expected, Yakumo also withdrew slightly as he was surprised.

If she was exploding in this way, he would thought she was a nasty woman. But it didn't matter.

No matter what Yakumo thought, she couldn't let down Nao.

Besides, she might be annoying to push, but she did not want Yakumo to be a person who locked in his shell when an important person was in trouble.

Yakumo stared at Haruka with wrinkles between his brows.

Haruka inhaled a breath, held her fist tightly and opened her mouth.

"Yakumo-kun, you had a lot of pain and sad experiences because of his red left eye ... So you hate that kind of thing, and you locked yourself in your shell."

"What do you want to say?"

"By doing so, you've kept your weakness away by keeping a distance from others. If you are alone, you will not be hurt and no one will be hurt. You thought so."

"…......."

"But you're really afraid to be lonely and you're constantly involved with others. If you don't want to hurt anyone, you'd be completely lonely and I can't do that."

"That's terrible words …"

Yakumo made a small sigh.

Haruka spoke also for herself, but she thought it was very harsh words. Butー.

"But that's why Yakumo-kun is so kind ! You know the pain, you know the sadness, so you can't leave a troubled person alone ! You're so kind that you'll desperately help someone ! "

"Me being kind is an illusion"

Yakumo replied with a rejection.

Haruka overflew with unspeakable sorrow. The tears that were falling did not stop.

"Don't say such a sad thing …"

"Why do you cry ?"

"I want to cry ! How many times have I been helped by Yakumo-kun's kindness ? It's not an illusion …"

So was her twin sister. It was Yakumo who saved Haruka from her trauma.

That was not all. Even when she almost died in the case of the flood gate, Haruka was saved by the kindness of Yakumo. Haruka was saved by Yakumo's kindness even when he faced a serious problem when she was in an educational intern. She felt broken.

"I don't remember helping."

"Shut up !"

Haruka yelled and slammed the table with both hands.

Her body trembled.

Anger and sorrow alternated, disturbing Haruka's heart like a storm.

But she couldn't stop here.

Haruka looked straight at Yakumo.

"No matter what you think Yakumo-kun, I was saved by you !"

"That's why I say it's an illusion."

"Come on !"

"…....."

"I'm not came to like an illusion !"

Haruka's cry shook the night air.

She didn't want him to say that her precious feeling she had kept secret were illusions. That was too sad.

She couldn't see what Yakumo looked like, because her view were distorted by tears.

But, that was fine.

She was not saying something like this in an attempt to fulfill her wishes. She just wanted Yakumo to regain his confidence.

Whether or not he had a red left eye, Haruka's feelings for Yakumo would not be shaken. It should be the same for Gotou and Ishii. Even Nao didn't like Yakumo because he had a red left eye.

She wanted him to understand it.

"I liked the twister, the weak one, but stillー the kind person who wanted to save someone and didn't give up hope. The red left eye doesn't matter."

Haruka bit her lip saying that.

Yakumo said nothing. However, the silence flew.

Haruka regained her calmness in the fluffy silence, like being in the water.

She said everything she wanted to say. After this, the decision depended on Yakumo.

This was some harsh words. She was sure that Yakumo would hate her. But that was no use. If Yakumo stood up again ー He could find Naoー.

And no matter how Yakumo felt, Haruka's feelings wouldn't disappeared

That's whyー...

"Please. Don't lock yourself in a shell in such a place and go find Nao-chan..."

After saying that Haruka opened the door and went out.

The cold autumn breeze stroked her face.

Haruka looked back only once when she closed the door.

She knew that Yakumo was sitting, but she couldn't see his expression.

The door closed with a clicking sound.

She wondered if she could open this door anymore, and the sorrow that she had spewed up again.

ー But, this is fine.

Haruka told herself so and walked out.

#psychic detective yakumo #shinrei tantei yakumo #light novel #volume 10 #file 02 #saitou yakumo