Chapter 2 - Oni Ga Sumu Ka Ja Ga Sumu Ka

1

As the images of the monster lined up vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, a sea of coins spat out at Takeshi. Loud fanfare resounded, and the word “congratulations” danced across the screen. He looked at the coins about to overflow from the tray and sighed listlessly. He’d thought that winning the jackpot would make him feel better, but it hadn’t changed a thing. In fact, the discomfort in his chest only grew. One reason for this was the Western-style art imprinted on the coins, which reminded him of the Jailhouse monster.

Trying to settle himself, he stood up and looked around. It was noon on a weekday, so the arcade was practically empty. Other than Takeshi, there was only one other patron—a man in a suit who looked like any other overworked office employee. He kept hitting the punching bag game as if blowing off stress from work.

The arcade clerk behind the counter yawned repeatedly. He hadn’t even questioned why Takeshi had been there since morning. He worked every Monday and Thursday. All the regulars knew him and his lax attitude. That was why Takeshi had come here.

It had been two weeks since Takeshi had last gone to school. At first he’d been able to fool his parents by saying he had a cold, but that excuse had run its course. He didn’t want to worry his mother needlessly. So, in order to keep the peace, he pretended to go to school. Mimicking his mother’s voice over the phone, he convinced his homeroom teacher that he was actually still at home recovering from his cold. His status as a late bloomer was often a source of irritation for him, but in this instance, he was grateful his voice hadn’t dropped yet.

At first, he hid in the hills behind school playing games on his handheld to kill time all day. Although they’d had a warm winter, the February air was still chilly. If he’d kept it up, he would have caught a cold for real sooner or later. Then he’d be forced to rest, to sleep... which would mean the nightmares again. And that was something he absolutely had to avoid.

It had been five days since he’d last slept. He was afraid to. For in his dreams, Takeshi was trapped in an endless chase with a monster. It was a disgusting giant with slick, blue skin. No matter how long and how fast he ran from it, it pursued him doggedly. Over and over, he’d trip on something and nearly fall. Takeshi would force himself to keep running. But despite his best efforts, he could never lose the monster. It would always catch him in the end, sinking its sharp fangs into his flesh... Then he’d wake up.

He tried multiple things to keep from sleeping—drinking so much coffee he wanted to barf, pressing headphones tightly against his ears with hard rock playing at loud volume—but nothing was a perfect solution. Sleep was important. Without it, humans die. Takeshi had once heard that somewhere in another country, a man had gotten addicted to an online game and had stayed up for three straight days playing it, which put him in the hospital and ultimately killed him. At this rate, Takeshi would fall prey to the same fate.

Yet he desperately wanted to stay awake. It’d be easier to simply die than have that horrible dream again.

He’d even visited the local shrines, thinking he might be possessed. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the money to pay for a priest to exorcise him. He’d also bought a power stone from an online store, borrowed a suspicious “magic tome” from the library, and made a very confused attempt at a crystal healing ritual. Nothing seemed to work. He’d tied a braided bracelet around his wrist as an old-fashioned good luck charm, and wished for it to keep away evil spirits. But people said the wish you made on the bracelet wouldn’t come true until it wore out and fell off on its own, and that could take years.

Suddenly Takeshi felt very heavy, as if his brain was going numb. He began to see double.

Get it together, Takeshi!

Rubbing his eyes, he looked around again. The world began to slowly spin around him. He slapped his cheek with his right hand, but his vision remained blurry.

Maybe I’ll feel better if I get some soda...

That’s what he thought, but he hardly took three steps before collapsing to his knees. A loud sound like the ringing of temple bells reverberated unpleasantly against his eardrums. He instinctively covered his ears, but the ringing continued, striking at the very core of his consciousness.

I feel sick. I’m gonna hurl.

Curled up on the floor, he felt someone pat him lightly on the back. Was it the arcade employee? It would be trouble if the employee somehow found out that he was skipping school.

It took all of Takeshi’s strength just to mutter, “...I’m fine.”

Leaning against the game machine he’d been playing not five minutes ago, he forced himself to stand up. He hadn’t touched a button, yet the game started up all on its own. “Congratulations” flashed across the screen as loud fanfare once again filled the room. A sea of coins spilled out—no, it wasn’t coins piling endlessly into the tray. Their long, thin bodies wriggled as their hundreds upon hundreds of legs skittered in the air.

Centipedes.

A horde of centipedes was spilling out into the coin tray. They were blue, with giant eye-like patterns covering their segmented bodies. No, those weren’t patterns... The eyes shifted restlessly from side to side, intent on observing the layout of the room.

The centipedes overflowed from the tray and fell at Takeshi’s feet. He reflexively stomped on them, sending sticky blue liquid spraying all over his favorite jeans.

“Hey, man!” Takeshi shouted at the arcade employee, thoroughly fed up. “What the hell is this? Some sort of prank?”

But the employee didn’t answer. Takeshi felt warm breath on the nape of his neck.

“Hurry up and fix this—”

He turned around and gulped down the rest of his sentence. Behind him stood not the lazy employee, but the monster that had tormented his dreams for so long.

“Ahhhhh!”

Takeshi screamed and jumped back. Its slick skin gleamed like some kind of amphibian’s. It never ceased to disgust Takeshi. And those giant eyes that took up half of its unnatural face inspired nothing but fear.

The monster let out a low growl. Its mouth was full of curved fangs, mottled red and brown like rusted pipes. It was most likely from the blood of all its past victims. Realizing he would soon become another one of those stains, an intense shiver ran through his body.

No. I don’t want to die.

He desperately wanted to run, but his fear was so great that his legs refused to listen to him.

“Someone! Help me!”

Takeshi shouted at the employee behind the counter so loudly that his throat felt like it would tear apart. But the clerk only continued to hum as he played with his smartphone, as if he had no clue as to what was transpiring.

“Hey! Look at me! Please... Help meee!”

The taste of blood spread through Takeshi’s mouth. Something must have split in his throat. The monster’s shadow loomed over the thinly carpeted floor.

“Ah... Aahh... Aaahhhhh!”

It was right behind him. He had to flee.

Frantically swinging his arms, he crawled along the floor. He heard his down jacket rip like it had caught on a broken floor tile. He loved that jacket, but there was no time to worry about it. For if he stopped, something much worse would rip through his flesh and bone.

The inattentive employee slowly raised his head, as if finally noticing the commotion.

“Mister, help me!”

Takeshi shouted to the employee and stretched out his hand, but the guy simply shook his head silently.

“Hey, quit screwing around! Your job is more than just exchanging tokens for prizes!” Takeshi’s mouth was going a mile a minute. “You know what my mom always says? People don’t come to our restaurant just to fill their stomachs. You can’t just make tasty food and be done with it. You need to provide good service that satisfies more than just hunger. Making everyone happy is the real goal.”

“Making everyone happy?” The employee snorted and gave Takeshi a scornful look. “Have you lost your mind? Do you not remember how you terrorized me, hiding in Takuro’s shadow?”

Takeshi’s eyes went wide as he stared at him. It was no longer the arcade employee behind the counter. There, smiling coldly, was his classmate who’d been hit by a truck and died two months ago—Naoki.

2

“How...?” He swallowed. “Oh, I see... This is a dream...”

“That’s right. It’s a dream. So even if you were to get hit by a truck, you wouldn’t die like I did. What do you say? Want to try it out?” With a gleeful smile, Naoki leaped nimbly onto the counter and dangled his legs off of it.

“That wasn’t my fault. I was only obeying Takuro’s orders—” Takeshi desperately began to defend himself.

“I didn’t actually expect you to go run into traffic. It was just a joke. I didn’t know you were so tormented by my death.”

That was partly true. Takeshi had been part of the reason for Naoki’s death, even if only indirectly. Takeshi had always regretted that and feared the consequences.

“You don’t need to make excuses. I’m not mad or anything.”

“...So, you forgive me?”

“Yes, of course.”

It was as if the many thorns piercing his heart for the last two months suddenly dissolved. However, the relief was only momentary.

“In fact, I’m grateful to you all. If I’d survived, I never would have been able to exact my revenge.”

Takeshi was plunged back into the pits of despair.

“Should you just be standing there? If you don’t hurry up and run, you’ll be eaten.”

A creepy smile curled up the corners of Naoki’s lips. The next moment, extreme pain shot through Takeshi’s left shoulder. He looked to see what had happened, and his eyes fell on the monster behind him. It was completely focused on chewing something long and thin. It wasn’t long before Takeshi realized that something was his arm.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Blood gushed from his left shoulder. His vision darkened from the unimaginable pain.

“There’s this cliché thing people do in fiction where they pinch their cheek in order to see if they’re dreaming. Don’t you think that’s pointless? After all, you can feel pain even in a dream.” Naoki’s giggles echoed in his ear. “And no matter how much it hurts, you can’t die, so in some sense, it’s even worse than reality.”

“Stop it! Stop it, please!”

Blood spurted from Takeshi’s shoulder like a fountain with every beat of his heart. In a panic, he pressed down on it with his right hand. Unabated, the viscous fluid just seeped between his fingers.

“Please... I’m sorry... I’ll do whatever you want... Just forgive me.”

“Oh, don’t misunderstand. I’m not forcing you to experience this nightmare. It’s a manifestation of the fear and guilt you feel deep down inside.”

“Then how can I stop it? What do I have to do to be free of this nightmare?”

“You probably have to cut it off at the source.”

“...The source?”

“You’re having this nightmare because you’re afraid of the monster rumored to haunt the Jailhouse, right? In that case, I guess if you went to the mansion and saw for yourself that there was no such thing, it’d all be fixed.”

Fresh pain bloomed in the back of Takeshi’s head before Naoki could finish talking. The monster, having finished eating his left arm, was now chomping down again. It still wasn’t full.

Takeshi could hear the sound of its fangs slicing into his own head. The horrible gnashing rang in his ears, forcing him to close his eyes. Its sharp fangs must have broken through his skull and penetrated his brain. Takeshi could distinctly feel a mixture of warm, jelly-like goo and blood flowing out of the back of his head. The fangs sunk even further into his brain. It was hot. Searing hot. It was as if all the blood in his body was boiling.

Suddenly, Takeshi was watching himself being eaten by the monster in third-person. This was a common occurrence in dreams. Yet though he was now observing his death from the outside, he still felt all the excruciating pain of it. It was too much to bear.

Blood covered him from head to toe. The monster opened its mouth wide and chomped down. The back of his skull deflated like a twisted, punctured balloon. It was hardly recognizable as him anymore. The area around his eyelids began to tingle. He was so incredibly itchy. He lifted his right hand to his face when the monster’s fang came bursting out of his eye, ripping it upward.

Chomp.

Like an overripe fruit, Takeshi’s head exploded with brownish liquid. Just like that, it was all over.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!”

...And then, he finally woke up.

He’d apparently fallen asleep in front of the coin game. The heater in the room wasn’t particularly strong, yet Takeshi’s entire body was covered in sweat.

“Hey, kid. You okay?” The man in the suit who’d been having a go at the punching game earlier was peering at him with a concerned look on his face. “You don’t look so hot. Want to go to a doctor?”

Takeshi shook his head. He then hurriedly got up and fled the arcade without a word. Not looking where he was going, he collided with a pedestrian on the sidewalk.

“Are you blind, you idiot?!” he reflexively shouted.

But upon realizing it was a policeman he’d bumped into, he panicked and quickly ran off.

When he finally came to a stop, he had no idea how far he’d run. Reaching out and leaning against a utility pole with his arm, he focused on calming his ragged breathing. Not only was he sleep-deprived, but now he was physically exhausted. He’d been running at full speed for who knows how long. His legs were like jelly. The innermost part of his brain tingled numbly. It almost felt as though it didn’t belong to him. He wondered for a moment if the dream had been real, if his head had actually been eaten.

Once he had control of his breathing again, he raised his head. His plan had been to run around town trying to avoid being spotted, but somehow, unconsciously, he had made his way home. A sign inscribed with the words “The Happy Tummy Restaurant: Manpuku” swayed gently in the southern wind.

From the shadow of the utility pole, Takeshi peered inside the restaurant. It was just about lunchtime, so the seats were filled with customers. Takeshi’s mother bustled from table to table. She’d been complaining about her back recently. Was she okay? As Takeshi watched his mother work, he felt like his chest was being squeezed by a vice.

What in the world am I doing?

He realized that he hadn’t helped out at the restaurant at all for the last two weeks. His mother had been handling evening deliveries and cleaning the shop all by herself. It was clearly his fault her back was hurting.

And yet here I am, skipping school and wandering aimlessly around town. It’ll just make her even more worried if she finds out I was lying. This can’t go on forever. I have to do something. It’s all that monster’s fault. It and the nightmares it brings.

“You’re having this nightmare because you’re afraid of the monster rumored to haunt the Jailhouse, right?”

Takeshi recalled what Naoki had said in his dream.

“In that case, I guess if you went to the mansion and saw for yourself that there was no such thing, it’d all be fixed.”

Then and there, Takeshi made up his mind. He was going to the Jailhouse. There was no such thing as monsters. Once he proved that, surely the nightmares would cease.

“I’m gonna put an end to this...”

He nodded firmly, turned his back to Manpuku, and set off.

3

Takeshi’s triumphant stride grew heavier and more reluctant as he got closer to the Jailhouse. There was no way a man-eating, blue-skinned giant could really exist, yet he couldn’t silence that tiny voice saying, “What if?” After all, if he truly didn’t believe in the monster, he never would’ve had such nightmares in the first place.

On the off chance something was there, Takeshi decided he’d need a weapon. Stealing a knife from the restaurant meant risking getting caught by his parents, but he didn’t have the money to go buy one, either. Prowling around the abandoned factory across from the Jailhouse, he finally found a conveniently sized iron pipe. He gripped it with his right hand and swung lightly. It was tough, but not too heavy. It would be good for self-defense.

By the time he’d found the iron pipe, darkness had begun to settle in. Thick clouds spread throughout the sky, and Takeshi could hear the rare sound of winter thunder in the distance. He remembered that the morning forecast had reported that an explosive low-pressure system was moving in. It would be smart to get into the mansion before it started pouring.

Gripping the iron pipe tightly, Takeshi stood before the Jailhouse. The padlock to the front gate was unhinged, and the gate itself was ajar. He thought someone must have gone in before him, but there were no lights on in the mansion from what he could see through the overgrown weeds.

His heart began to race.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t scared. In the past, it had terrified him just to come near the place. Whenever he went somewhere, he’d go out of his way to avoid it, even if that meant taking the long way. It was unthinkable for him to be here after the sun set, and all alone at that.

In all honesty, the Jailhouse scared the pants off him. He wanted to run and never look back. But this time, the thought of never being free from the nightmares scared him far more than setting foot inside the Jailhouse. Just remembering the monster’s horrible countenance made all his hair stand on end. The unimaginable pain of having his arms, legs, and head ripped off. The geysers of blood. His brains scattering everywhere. He never wanted to experience that again.

Takeshi glared intently at the giant mansion. Steeling himself, he took his first step onto the property. His whole body twitched as if he’d just been shocked by electricity. It was like every cell in his body was begging him to stop.

“...What are you doing here?”

Takeshi suddenly heard a familiar voice nearby. Pressing his back to the stone wall surrounding the Jailhouse, he held his breath.

“Liar. I know you’re planning something awful again.”

It turned out they weren’t talking to him at all. The voice was coming from the street on the other side of the wall.

“Takuro’s father hasn’t been seen since last night. Was that your doing, as well?”

It was his class president, Anna, seemingly talking to no one in particular. What in the world was she doing? Careful not to make a sound, Takeshi inched his way along the wall. Poking his head out slightly from the iron gate, he looked down the sidewalk. The clouds that were rolling in quickly blotted out even the moon rising in the east, making it quite dark. Takeshi could see Anna standing under a streetlamp, but there was hardly any chance of her seeing him in the shadow of the wall.

“Cease your foolishness. This won’t ease your hate. You’ll just become hollow.”

Anna was holding her schoolbag with a shiba inu key chain dangling from it. She must have been on her way to cram school. But who was she talking to? Takeshi looked around where she was standing, but there was no one else there. He squinted, but there was still no sign of a second person. The road was narrow enough that only one car could barely pass through, but there was nothing obstructing his view from where he stood, and there were no blind spots he was aware of.

“Of course. I haven’t forgotten about that, either. How could I?”

But it wasn’t just that Takeshi couldn’t see who Anna was talking to. He couldn’t hear anyone else, either. And yet Anna continued to talk to this unseen phantom.

What’s with her...?

Goosebumps covered his whole body. This was beyond creepy. His knees began to buckle.

“It’s your fault Takeshi’s been staying home from school, isn’t it?”

He nearly let out a pathetic yelp of a scream upon hearing his name suddenly come up. He quickly covered his mouth.

“I heard Takuro and Hiroshi talking about how they went to visit him last week. They said he looked like a ghost, he was so thin. He wasn’t sleeping and had huge bags under his eyes.”

Takeshi touched his face. He hadn’t realized. Was it really that bad? It was true that Takuro and Hiroshi had come to check on him. It was so out of character for Takuro that Takeshi had been suspicious of what he might be up to. But what was even more shocking was that he and Hiroshi were chatting amicably when they’d had zero prior contact.

Had he missed something? Had something happened between them? Takeshi couldn’t help asking about it. But Takuro had just smiled in his usual nihilistic way and said, “So, you don’t remember, either, huh?”

“When they asked why he wasn’t coming to school, he just said, ‘A blue monster is chasing me.’ We reset the game, so Takeshi shouldn’t remember anything about that day. So why is it that he’s so afraid of a phantom monster? I can only conclude that you’re involved somehow.”

That day? What day?

“Please, just stop it. If you keep this up, you’ll never be saved—”

“Hey, Anna.” Takeshi was moving before he realized it. He jumped out onto the sidewalk and approached Anna. “What do you know?”

Her face went pale.

“Takeshi... What are you doing here?”

She was usually so calm, but her big eyes opened wide in blatant surprise. His appearance had clearly shaken her.

“Who were you talking to just now?”

“What are you talking about? It’s just me here. There’s no one else around, is there?”

“Don’t try to fool me!” He struck the iron pipe in his right hand against the ground, attempting to scare her. “Were you talking to the monster?”

“Monster? I have no idea what you’re—”

“I said, don’t try to fool me!” he shouted, cutting her off.

It gave her quite a start.

“The monster’s here, isn’t it?” he asked, looking up at the creepy mansion looming in the darkness.

Anna simply looked at the ground, not responding. He grabbed her arm and began dragging her toward the building.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

Anna tried to resist, but there was no way in hell Takeshi was going to let go. He just continued to drag her along.

“You know about the monster, don’t you? Then take me to it.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Come on, let’s just calm down and talk this out. We could go to a family restaurant—”

Ignoring her pleading, Takeshi dragged her all the way to the mansion entrance. He twisted the knob, and the door swung open easily.

A fancy entrance hall, the likes of which he’d only seen in foreign films, spread out before them. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling looked like a golden firework in full bloom against the summer night sky. He hadn’t seen any lights from outside, but he could see now that the whole place was illuminated. He’d imagined that the abandoned building would be a dusty, dirty mess, but it was spotless.

“Does someone live here?” he asked, but Anna wouldn’t answer.

Takeshi adjusted his grip on the iron pipe. The palms of his hands were starting to get sweaty.

I’m scared.

He was doing his best to act strong, but there was no stopping his body from shivering. He wanted to run away and never look back, but that wouldn’t change anything. The nightmares would never stop plaguing him.

“Come out and face me!” he shouted into the depths of the mansion, his voice squeaking with fear.

He listened closely, but heard no response. Takeshi sighed heavily, then proceeded into the building without removing his shoes. He passed by the staircase and went straight to the back of the house.

At the far end of the entrance hall sat a stuffed bear. Its paws were raised above its head in a threatening pose. At the bear’s feet lay a striped necktie and a clearly high-end tie pin embedded with a gemstone. What were they doing here? He bent down and picked them up. Red stains dotted the necktie. It looked like blood. He lifted his head and looked at the bear, which was baring its fangs with a fearsome expression on its face. It almost seemed as though the bear had eaten the necktie’s owner.

“...That can’t be.”

Takeshi shook his head to purge such unsettling thoughts.

Whunk.

He heard something smack against a wall.

“Wh-What was that sound?” he asked, turning to Anna.

But Anna simply knit her brow in worry, remaining silent. Instead, a bestial call echoed through the mansion as if to answer him. The door at the end of the long hall burst open, putting a punctuated end to all of Takeshi’s bravado.

“Uwaaaaah!”

He shoved Anna aside and dashed back through the entrance hall, out the open door, and into the ravaged yard. Behind him, the sound of the front door slamming shut rang out.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

No! I’m scared! It’s going to kill me! I don’t want to die yet!

Takeshi fled the property without ever looking back.