Chapter 3 - Oni to Zaregoto

1

Upon hearing the anxiety-inducing third movement of Sinfonia Tapkaara, Shun sprang out of bed. He reflexively checked the clock on the wall. It read 7:20. Seeing it was completely dark outside his window, he could tell that evening had long since settled in. Apparently he’d been sawing logs for over 12 hours.

Shun grabbed his laptop from where it sat leaning against a corner of the bookcase. It was the source of the intense piccolo performance. The third movement of Sinfonia Tapkaara was what Shun had set for the ring tone of the communication app installed on his laptop. Until last year, he’d often enjoyed staying up late video chatting with his close friends from school, but that all came to an end after he moved. All it took was a little bit of distance to extinguish a friendship, he’d learned. So, who on earth would be calling him now?

He cocked his head quizzically and opened the laptop. The screen displayed the notification: “Jailhouse PC calling.” That sobered him instantly.

With his latest update to the game, he’d added a tablet PC inside the mansion in order to allow contact with the outside world. He wasn’t sure if his experiment would work, but this told him everything he needed to know. It seemed his work was a resounding success. He couldn’t afford to celebrate, however. That piercing, echoing orchestra melody was proof that someone was inside the Jailhouse.

He moved the cursor to the answer button and quickly clicked it. The Jailhouse interior appeared on the monitor.

“...Shun?”

Anna looked at him nervously through the screen. Shun recognized the calming palette of terracotta tile behind her. It was the design of the Jailhouse bathrooms. She must have been hiding in one of them.

“Anna, can you hear me?” he asked impatiently and grabbed the computer with both hands.

“Yeah, I can, but... I don’t understand. What’s going on here? How did I end up connected with you?”

There was no time to explain. Shun ignored her questions and pressed on with his own.

“What are you doing in there? You know how dangerous it is!”

“I’m sorry. I was on my way to cram school when I ran into Takeshi, and he dragged me in here.”

“Is Takeshi with you?”

“No. A cat jumped out of a room and scared him off. I tried to go after him, but the front door slammed in my face.”

A low, heavy sound suddenly echoed through the speakers over Anna’s voice.

“...What was that?” she asked, her eyes darting around fearfully.

Somewhere in the Jailhouse, the monster was causing a ruckus. This was no time for idle chatter.

“Anna, get out of there! Now!” Shun shouted, wiping away the sweat forming on his brow. “Check the back of the tablet. There’s a blue keycard, right? You can use that to open the front door. Hurry!”

The video feed shook, and Anna disappeared from the screen. She’d flipped over the tablet in order to look for the key.

“Huh? I don’t see anything...”

The picture shook again, and Anna’s perturbed face reappeared.

The card wasn’t there? Shun went as white as a sheet. Did reality not reflect the in-game changes he’d made after all? No, that couldn’t be it. Anna was holding the tablet he’d put in.

“That’s odd... Maybe it came loose and fell somewhere. Yeah, that must be it.”

Shun was doing his utmost to stay calm. If he fell into panic, that wouldn’t help Anna any. It would only worry her more.

“Peek into the hall to see if the monster is there. If it’s not, run as fast as you can to the front door. Got it?” he instructed.

“Yeah.” Anna nodded fiercely. “I was shaking uncontrollably earlier, unable to think. But seeing your face has given me courage. Thanks... Okay, I think the hallway’s clear. I’m going for it.”

“Be careful.”

Before Shun could even finish saying that, the image on the monitor began shaking violently, making it impossible to tell what was going on. She must have tucked the tablet under her arm before running. He could hear her footsteps and labored breath.

It’ll be okay. Anna will surely make it out alive.

Shun desperately tried to tell himself that, but his anxiety continued to balloon. He felt like his entire body was about to explode.

What if she couldn’t find the keycard? And even if she did find it, there was no guarantee that it would unlock the front door. What if the monster appeared at the worst possible moment right in front of the door? Shun could see it now... The blue monster mercilessly attacking the defenseless Anna. Red fluids splattering everywhere. Silence settling over the mansion. And then, finally, the disgusting sound of gnashing echoing through the halls.

Three weeks ago, Shun had witnessed Anna’s grisly demise. They’d been fortunate, and time had reversed itself. The incident had effectively never happened, but Shun still remembered it. And he never wanted to witness something so hellish again.

“Oh!” he heard Anna exclaim.

The Jailhouse live feed ceased shaking up and down, and a picture came back into focus. Shun could now see the mansion wall displayed on his laptop screen. Anna must have stopped right before arriving in the entrance hall.

Bottomless, screaming anxiety bubbled up in Shun instantly.

A mysterious sound assaulted his ears, making him want to cover them. Now he could only see the mansion ceiling displayed on the monitor. The tablet must have fallen to the floor.

“Oh... Oh, God! Oh, God!” Anna whispered hoarsely.

A blue shadow cut across the corner of the screen.

“Anna, run!” Shun shouted, but there was no way to know if she heard him.

That was the last change he saw on the monitor. All it showed him now was a static image of the white ceiling. Shun turned his computer’s volume to max, but he could only hear the infrequent sounds of rattling windowpanes. He had no idea what was happening to Anna.

“Anna!”

He tried calling out to her, but there was no response.

“That’s right! The game!”

Shun tossed the laptop onto his bed and ran over to his desk. Maybe he could learn something if he started up the game.

He rapped hard on the keyboard, but the monitor stayed black. And no matter what button he pressed, it remained that way. Not even moving his mouse produced a response.

Shun then checked all the cords, thinking perhaps something had accidentally gotten unplugged, but nothing was amiss. He unplugged them all and plugged them back in to be sure, but the OS wouldn’t boot.

“What’s going on here?”

It had worked just fine that morning. He tried a number of troubleshooting measures, but the monitor only displayed a mysterious code. It wasn’t even a proper error message to tell him what was wrong. He’d never experienced anything like it.

I can’t sit around playing with this.

Shun picked up his laptop and darted out of the room.

The apartment was dark. His parents apparently weren’t back from work yet. Feeling his way through the hall, he switched on the front light. His mother’s smartphone was sitting on top of the shoe cubbies by the front door. She must have forgotten it. That was lucky. Now he could connect to the internet even outside. He grabbed it and slipped it into his jeans pocket. Normally his mother’s forgetfulness was a source of vexation, but it proved oddly useful at times like these.

“Anna, I’m coming to save you!”

Putting on his parka, he dashed out of the house. Creepy, dark clouds spattered the night sky like an ominous portent of calamity to come.

Upon reaching the street, Shun flagged down a taxi and asked the driver to take him to the Jailhouse. He seemed to understand what exactly that meant.

“Why are you going there, kid? Did you talk to your parents about this?” the driver asked, looking back at Shun through the rear-view mirror.

“Please. My friend is in danger.”

Not answering the man’s question, Shun simply bowed his head. He must have looked quite desperate. The driver didn’t ask anything more and set off.

2

There’s a blue, man-eating monster haunting the Jailhouse.

Shun had heard that odd rumor practically every day since moving to this town. It had been the inspiration for the escape game he’d made. But why were his game and the real-life Jailhouse linked? He still had no clue. He’d turned it over and over again in his head, yet couldn’t make sense out of it.

But the reason aside, their connection was certain. He had updated the game in the latest version to include a tablet PC by the front door in the entrance hall. And the exact same item he’d added had also appeared in the real Jailhouse. Anna calling him on it was proof of that.

Which means it’s possible...

A dark thought crossed Shun’s mind and made him frown as he looked at his reflection in the window.

Have I had the completely wrong idea this whole time?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Shun was under the impression that the monster haunting the Jailhouse for some 20 odd years now had become a local legend. He’d used information he’d learned from the townspeople to create his game, which was why the game and reality seemed to mirror each other.

But that didn’t explain everything. For example, there was the construction of the mansion. Shun had created an in-game map for the place using his imagination, with only the mansion’s exterior to go off of. Yet the layout of the real mansion turned out to be exactly the same as what he’d mapped out. Short of Shun having the power of clairvoyance, that should have been impossible.

And on top of that, the mansion’s inner state changed according to Shun’s programming. Taking everything into consideration, there seemed to be one answer that would explain it all.

If that’s true...

Shun bit his lower lip.

What if it was none other than me who created the Jailhouse monster?

It didn’t exist in uninhabited mountains or at the bottom of the ocean. It made its home in the corner of a fairly populated town. Wasn’t it strange that the monster hadn’t once been spotted in 20 years? If it had only sprung into existence weeks ago when Shun made his game, that would explain it.

Why did I bother with the tablet and keycard at the entrance? Couldn’t I have just deleted the monster from the game, deleting the real monster in the process? I’m an idiot. Why didn’t I realize this earlier?

Shun ground his teeth, frustrated at his own foolishness.

If the monster kills Anna...

A chill ran down his spine as he imagined the worst possible outcome.

“How could you?”

Anna’s words—spoken in a different time line that only Shun remembered—surfaced in his mind.

“Will you just stop all this? Let us out of here now!”

Back then, she’d thought Shun was the mastermind behind it all. Naturally, he’d denied it. But maybe she was right all along.

If the monster killed Anna, and if Shun was the monster’s creator, then it would be like Shun himself had killed her.

The taxi stopped in front of the property gate.

“I’ll be right back. Please wait here,” Shun said to the driver as he quickly jumped out of the car.

Shun slipped through the half-open gate and sprinted through the yard. The front door to the mansion was wide open, and he could see a figure curled up just inside.

“Anna!”

The figure nearly jumped at the sound of his voice, and Shun could see straight, black hair waving in the wind. There was no doubt in his mind it was Anna.

“Shun...?” he heard her whisper. Her perfect lips were nearly purple.

“Are you okay?”

Shun ran immediately over to her and consolingly rubbed her back. He gave her a quick look over, and his cursory examination indicated she wasn’t seriously hurt anywhere.

“Thank goodness...”

The second he felt relief to see her safe, a bestial howl echoed from the bowels of the building. There was no telling when the monster might attack again. They needed to leave immediately.

“Anna, can you walk?”

Anna nodded silently. Her eyes as she looked up at him were hollow. She must have had quite a scare. Lending her a shoulder, he carefully helped her stand up. He tried to lead her to the door, but she resisted for some reason.

“...Anna?”

“No... I’m scared...”

She was talking, but her lips were barely moving. She was so very pale. Whatever she’d been through, it was worse than Shun had imagined.

He tightly held on to her faintly shivering left hand and half dragged her out of the mansion. Practically running back across the yard, they jumped into the waiting taxi. Anna collapsed against the seat and stared into empty space, breathing heavily. Her pulse was rapid.

“Whoa, what’s this? She okay?” The driver turned to them, looking worried.

“Please take us to the nearest hospital,” Shun asked the driver.

Shun took Anna’s hand to comfort her as she suffered. Her palm was horribly cold.

3

He’d come so far. It had to be safe now.

Flopping onto the park bench, Takeshi took a moment to steady his ragged breathing. His head was pounding thanks to his reckless flight.

After a few deep breaths, his pulse calmed down, but his headache only got worse. He was thankful for it. There was no way he would fall asleep now.

He was so drenched in sweat that he was starting to get cold. The warm southern wind felt chilly on his skin.

Let’s just go home.

Telling himself that, he started to get up from the bench.

“Hey, Takeshi.”

That was when someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind. Takeshi let out a pitiful yelp, but upon turning around, he saw it was only Takuro and Mika.

“What’re you screaming at me for? I know you’re a scaredy-cat, but at least have some backbone. Why are you so scared?” Takuro smirked.

“What’re you doing out at this hour?” Takeshi asked.

“That’s my line. You haven’t been to school in over two weeks. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I was... uh...” Takeshi tripped over his words.

Takuro’s father owned the Jailhouse property. He was sure he’d yell at him if he told Takuro he’d snuck in. As he was searching for an answer, another voice came from the park entrance.

“It’s just as I thought,” said the familiar voice. “I believe Takuro’s father came here, as well.”

Takeshi looked up to see the smartest kid in their class, Hiroshi. He was in his usual school uniform and slowly approaching the group.

That reminds me...

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

Anna’s words surfaced in the back of Takeshi’s mind.

“Is your father still missing?”

“Yeah,” Takuro replied curtly. “It’s nothing new for him to be busy with work and not contact us for days, but something seems odd this time.”

“What do you mean?”

“My father’s car was found in the station parking lot this morning. The GPS and stereo were all ripped out.” Takuro’s shapely brow wrinkled before he continued. “And it’s not just my father. The old man who drives him around and the consultant he always relies on are missing, too. The only obvious conclusion is they got involved in some sort of crime. But the lazy-ass police aren’t doing a thing to help. They’re just ‘monitoring the situation.’ So I thought, hey, there’s someone more reliable than them in my class—that’s when I called Hiroshi.”

Takeshi stared in silence. What was going on? Takuro, who felt an obsessive need to be the best at everything, usually hated Hiroshi, the smartest kid in their grade.

“Hey, Hiroshi, why do you think my father was here, anyway?”

“Back when you showed me his car in the parking lot, I noticed purple foxtail seeds stuck to the tires,” Hiroshi replied as he pushed up his glasses.

“Purple foxtail?”

“Also known as bristlegrass, it’s a type of grass from the genus Setaria. The tips of its seeds are purple, which is where the name comes from. There’s a great deal of it growing near the park entrance. That’s quite uncommon in the winter, so it stuck out to me as odd, but I never thought knowing where it was would become a clue in such a fashion. It’s been a warm winter, and there’s plenty of sunshine here during the day, which must be why it’s growing in such a place,” said Hiroshi, droning on at length. “I checked the area and found distinct patches where the purple foxtail grass had been crushed. The width of the crushed patches matches the width of the tires on your father’s car exactly. They must have taken a turn here.”

“If they were around here, then my father was most likely headed for...”

All eyes turned in the same direction. Above the high stone walls, they could see the jagged roof of the Jailhouse in the distance.

“I snuck a look at your father’s schedule in the car while the police weren’t looking, and it seems he had a meeting this morning with someone from a construction company about the demolition of the Jailhouse. It’s not impossible that meeting was moved up,” Hiroshi said, his hand on his chin.

“So, the construction guy might know something, you think? I’ll ask my father’s secretary right now,” Takuro said as he took out his smartphone and made the call.

While this was going on, Takeshi’s headache continued to worsen. It was as if someone was hitting the inside of his skull with a hammer. Perhaps noticing his distress, Hiroshi drew closer with his usual stoic expression on his face.

“Takeshi, I have a question.”

“Wh-What do you want?” Takeshi asked, pressing himself all the way back against the bench.

“Where did you go today?”

“What’s it to you? It’s a free country, isn’t it?”

“Who told you that Takuro’s father is missing?”

“...”

“You asked him if his father was still missing before he could explain the situation. In other words, you already knew that he’d disappeared.”

“I-I saw it on the news.”

“I don’t believe any news outlets have reported on the matter yet, seeing as it’s unclear whether or not a crime has been committed.”

Even Takuro was glaring at him out of one eye as he was talking on the phone. Sweat began to pour from Takeshi’s temples. His headache worsened further still.

“I heard it from Anna.”

Hiroshi would see through all of his half-baked lies, so Takeshi decided to tell the truth.

“Anna...? You saw Anna?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s odd. She shouldn’t know anything, either.”

“I’m not lying. I overheard her talking to someone about Takuro’s dad.”

“Where did you see her?”

“Well...”

Takeshi swallowed his next words. The moment he told them he’d thrown her into the Jailhouse and then run, they’d surely berate him for being a coward. But his constant glances behind him must have given him away.

“Don’t tell me... the Jailhouse?” Hiroshi guessed correctly on the first try.

“Uh... no.”

It would be suspicious to outright deny it, but he didn’t have the guts to boldly lie to their faces.

“Looks like your guess wasn’t wrong, Hiroshi,” Takuro cut in as he hung up. “According to the secretary, they haven’t been able to make contact with the construction guy since last night, either.”

“So, what does that mean?” Mika, who had been silent until then, finally piped up.

“That they were probably attacked by the Jailhouse monster.”

A chill went down Takeshi’s spine to hear Takuro speak so frankly about his own father like that. He was sweating profusely now. He checked his pockets for something to wipe his face with and grabbed the first thing he felt.

“Hey, that’s—”

“Huh?”

What he’d pulled out was the bloody necktie he’d picked up in the Jailhouse.

“Ah... Uwaaaaah!”

Recalling the horrifying sight of that stuffed bear, he threw the necktie to the ground. Takuro bent down and picked it up. His face flared into a fearsome grimace as he marched up to Takeshi.

“This is my father’s necktie and pin. I gave them to him for Father’s Day last year, so there’s no mistaking it.”

“...Huh?”

“Yeah, so where did you get these?”

Takuro grabbed Takeshi by the collar.

“I-I can’t breathe... Takuro...”

“Spit it out. If you don’t hurry up, I’ll kill you.”

He knew all too well from hiding in Takuro’s shadow for so long that that was no idle threat.

“I found them... in the Jailhouse...”

“I knew it.”

Takuro loosened his grip. Takeshi rubbed his throat, coughing loudly.

“Where is Anna?” Hiroshi asked.

Takeshi just silently shook his head.

“Is she still inside the Jailhouse.”

“...”

“Am I right?”

“...Yes.”

Takeshi nodded meekly, whereupon Takuro jumped on him again.

“So, what? You abandoned her there and ran away by yourself? You’re the worst, you know that?”

Coming from Takuro, who only considered other people to be his pawns, that was shocking. Was he just pretending to be a goody two-shoes in front of Hiroshi? No, Takeshi didn’t think that was it. Takuro was glaring at him with genuine anger—something he went out of his way to hide in front of other people. Something must have changed in him while Takeshi was away.

“Let’s go.”

Dragging Takeshi by the arm, Takuro started to walk off.

“Where are you going?”

“Where else? The Jailhouse. I have to save my father and Anna.”

“That’s not like you. Why are you panicking? Your dad owns the place, right? So what’s there to worry about?” Mika said, playing with her nails listlessly.

“You don’t actually believe the monster exists, do you?” Takuro shook his head. “You guys don’t understand anything. If we don’t do something, they’re both going to be killed. We have to hurry!”

With that, Takuro gave Takeshi a swift kick in the pants.

“Quit stalling. Take me to Anna.”

“All right, all right... But just wait a sec.”

It was suicide to go empty-handed. Takeshi once again picked up the iron pipe he’d tossed into the corner of the park.

Takuro then dragged Takeshi back to the Jailhouse. Hiroshi and Mika followed close behind. Clear hesitation filled Mika’s face. Hiroshi was restlessly scanning their surroundings and muttering to himself. Whatever he was thinking was a mystery, as usual.

Lightning forked through the dense clouds above, lighting up the mansion in a creepy manner.

“Welcome to the Jailhouse.”

Takeshi could have sworn he heard someone whisper in his ear. Innocent giggling followed. It sounded just like Naoki did in his nightmares.